Family Matters
by London Man
Summary: Harry Potter-adopted by the Cullens at a young age. Now Alexander Cullen-loves his family and his life. Things are just how he wants them, until he falls for an adoptive sibling and his school decides to host the Triwizard Tournament. Slash by Frosty
1. Chapter 1

Title: **Family Matters**  
Category: Books » Harry Potter  
Author: Early-Frosts  
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T  
Genre: Family/Romance  
Published: 10-26-09, Updated: 11-24-09  
Chapters: 32, Words: 144,281

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. If you want confirmation, please check Early-Frosts' site. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 1: Prologue: Resignation**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

Expanded Summary: At a very young age, Harry Potter was adopted by Carlisle and Esme Cullen. Renamed Alexander Cullen, he has grown up surrounded by the supernatural. His parents and five siblings—Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice, and Edward—are all vampires and he has attended the New England Academy of Magic since he turned eleven. Now a sixteen-year-old and the popular student body president of his school, the teen's life is about to be turned upside down by the Triwizard Tournament. When faced with two sets of parents and siblings, what will he decide for his future: life or death?

**Prologue - Resignation**

"You _can't_ do this," a woman with a thick Boston accent complained.

Alex was completely unaffected by the sight of a nearly fifty-year-old woman whining like a small child. He simply continued to sort through the documents in the manila folder he was holding, separating the contents into what he was keeping for himself and what needed to remain behind for his successor.

"I can, actually," he replied casually to the professor.

"You need a proper education," the adult argued back.

"And I will get one. I will be transferring to a Muggle school straight away."

Alex finished sorting through the folder. After removing all of the pages that he wanted for himself and placing them in his canvas messenger bag, he returned the file itself to the file cabinet before finally turning to look at his now-former Charms professor.

Professor Cordelia Brekenridge was, to many, a bundle of contradictions. By all appearances, she was the epitome of class and grace. She was classically beautiful and invariably dressed with impeccable taste. Her dark hair was pulled back, save for a single lock of grey that fell to the right of her face.

Sadly, the image of the prim and proper heiress was shattered every time she opened her mouth.

"Have you gone bonkers? Have your mental faculties gone off to Bermuda and left you daft?" she cried in exasperation. "How do you expect to find decent work if you don't graduate?"

"The school and I have irreconcilable differences," the boy evaded the question. He always avoided questions about his plans for the future.

"You're not getting a divorce, Alex," she said, her face scrunching up in irritation.

"I'm making a statement."

"What good is a statement going to do?" Professor Brekenridge demanded as she crossed her arms and turned her head away like a child who didn't want to eat her vegetables.

"It will get the point across that this sort of thing is totally unacceptable."

"It won't, actually. You're just going to come across as a petulant child throwing a temper tantrum because he didn't get his way."

"Excuse me?" Alex demanded, his voice rising for the first time since the discussion began. "This isn't a matter of me not getting my way. I was totally left out of the loop about a major decision affecting the lives of every student and faculty member here. And their families. I was kept in the dark and so were you and everyone else at this school. And all because that arrogant, back-stabbing, reject wants to be the next headmaster."

"Professor Reynolds-" the woman began, only to be cut off.

"Is a jackass," Alex finished.

"You shouldn't speak about him that way. He is your professor, after all, and deserving of at least a modicum of respect."

"He's not my professor anymore. I quit," the teen replied with a satisfied smile. Noticing the frustration in the woman's eyes, he decided to clarify his position a bit. "Reynolds knows that Headmaster Justinian is planning to step down at the end of the year and thinks that he can curry favor with the board of trustees by bringing the Triwizard Tournament here. He doesn't care that the only reason our school even had the opportunity to be the third school in the competition is because one of the schools that was in it three years ago refused to be part of it a second time. 'Why?' you ask. Because some lunatic used it as cover for a plot that got a student killed and resurrected a terrorist."

"That is all speculation," Brekenridge interjected before the boy's tirade could continue any further.

"Regardless of what the British Minister of Magic would have everyone believe about the last Tournament, the fact remains is that a student died. My point," Alex said with a flourish of his hands, "is that this tournament represents a very real danger to the students of this school. Even when things have gone as planned, students have died in it. And even if England isn't really involved in some sort of internal hullaballoo—and I think you and I both know that it is—then there is still virtually no chance of things going as planned."

The Charms mistress muttered softly.

"What was that?"

"I said, you make a good point about the Tournament. But why quit school? Why not use your place here to shout your complaints to anyone that will listen?"

"I was elected Student Body President to serve the students. If Reynolds really has already gotten the Department of Magical Affairs and the Board of Trustees on his side, then I need to cause a stir. I need to do something big and flashy to make people really take notice about what's going on. I need for the people in charge to be _drowned_ in owls from angry parents if anything is going to happen.

"Besides, I always planned to go to a Muggle school eventually. If I go now, I will be able to spend at least a year going with all of my brothers and sisters before they start to graduate. It will be a good bonding experience."

"I hate this," Brekenridge huffed.

"In my experience, most people hate change. Now, are you going to tell me goodbye or not?"

"Not," the woman said with a defiant shake of her head.

Alex smiled at the woman for a few seconds before patting her on the arm and surrendering his wand to her. "Don't let Reynolds be too much of a prick." He then stepped around the professor and made his way out of the student council office.

Only a minute passed before he found himself exiting the central building into the cool August air; the breeze that came off of the ocean onto the island always gave the school a bit of a chill, regardless of season. Alex stopped for a moment to examine his surroundings one last time before heading off towards the far edge of the island campus. The whole walk felt surreal to the wizard.

Alex was the only student wandering the campus. About half of the students lived in the dorms when classes were in session, but none of them were out and about. As for the students that commuted to and from school on a daily basis by portkey, they had all left when classes ended for the day almost three hours before. Alex often remained until long after the other commuters left in order to time his return home to when classes were dismissed for the day in his hometown. He was, however, running later than usual on this particular day.

After the slow walk across campus, he reached the maintenance shed that also served as the portkey site for students who didn't live on campus. Ms. Lepon, a former employee of the Division of Magical Transportation and current gatekeeper of the New England campus, was waiting for him.

"From what the kiddies have been tellin' me, I don't need to send a return portkey with you," the short and squat blonde woman said as she looked up at the teen. Her voice sounded all business, but there was a sad look in her eyes that told Alex that she wasn't too keen on the idea of him quitting school.

"That's right. It's my last day."

"You sure about this?" she inquired.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Alex replied. He wasn't quite as certain as he pretended to be.

"Alright then," she said simply. The woman reached into a coffee can and retrieved a marble. After fishing her wand—a thin, fragile piece of wood that looked like the type of twig one would find on a forest floor—out of a nearby toolbox, she wordlessly cast the Portkey Charm on the bauble.

Alex shot the woman one last confident smile before taking hold of the marble and being whisked away to Forks, Washington.

As was routine for the boy, he arrived in the toolshed that stood at the far end of the Cullen family's property. The little square building had been set up for the express purpose of serving as the portkey site for Alex's commute to and from school.

He almost fell flat on his face, but was caught by a pair of strong arms.

"You're late," came a playful voice from above the green-eyed wizard.

Alex's forced smile morphed into a real one when he looked up into the amber eyes of Edward, one of his adoptive brothers.

A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the prologue of my new story. Reviews and constructive criticism are always appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 2: One: Family and Coven**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter One – Family and Coven**

The cover story that the Cullen coven used to create their public image was very complex. Carlisle was turned into a vampire when he was 23 years old. Esme had been 26 when she was turned by Carlisle. As a result, their physical appearances were much too young for people to believe that any of the other members of the coven were their biological children. There was a period when Alex was able to pass as their biological son, but that time had long since passed.

Officially, Carlisle and Esme were high school sweethearts who married right out of school. They both pretended to be thirty years old; they once tried to push the age up a few years, but it caused too much disbelief. All of the children were said to have been adopted. Alexander, Emmett, and Alice were supposed to be Esme's biological nephews and niece who were taken in after their parents died in a car crash. Jasper, Rosalie, and Edward were supposed to be biological siblings and the orphaned children of a deceased friend of Carlisle's.

The decision to split the children into two groups was made when Rosalie was turned into a vampire. She had been turned after both Edward and Esme during a time when the trio's sire, Carlisle, was especially worried about Edward's solitary existence; Rosalie was meant to be his mate. The girl had kept her family name—Hale— after the transformation so that she could pass as Edward's girlfriend. Although the pair weren't even remotely interested in one another romantically, the tradition stuck. The children were, therefore, divided up between Hales and Cullens. The mates were split up for the purposes of family names and then grouped together by physical similarities. Fair-haired Jasper and Rosalie were Hales while their darker-haired mates, Alice and Emmett, were Cullens.

Edward's bronze hair caused him to be classified as a Hale with Rosalie and Jasper. Alexander had very dark hair that allowed him to more easily pass as family to Emmett and Alice, so he took the last name of Cullen. Not that there was any question in the matter; Esme would have never allowed her youngest to have a last name that was different than her own.

"How was your day?" Edward asked as the pair left the tool shed and began to make their way towards the house.

"Cheater," Alex grumbled at the taller boy.

In addition to being a vampire, Edward Cullen had the supernatural ability to read minds. One of his favorite ways of utilizing his gift was to ask a broad question and then read the answer from the mind of the person he asked. Whatever answer that was actually verbalized would, as a result, be supplemented by all of the information related to the answer that rattled around the answerer's mind. So while Alex could answer the question with something short and simple, his mind would reveal something much more in-depth as the day's events bubbled to the forefront.

Although Alexander had become rather adept at avoiding thinking about certain things around his brother, Edward's questioning always got the better of him.

"You quit?" the vampire inquired before his mortal brother could say anything.

"Yes, I quit."

"Over a tournament?" the immortal pressed.

"You and I both know that it's more complex than that," Alex answered in frustration. "Can we hold the inquisition off until we get inside? I don't want to have to explain this too many times."

"Not a problem," Edward said in a placating manner. He swung an arm over the human's shoulder as they walked. "Esme's baking again," he changed the subject.

Alex couldn't help but smile. "_Mom_," he corrected forcefully, "always seems to know when I am in desperate need of sugar. Alice's foresight may not work on me because of the whole wizard thing, but Mom definitely has some kind of supernatural sense for these sorts of things."

The little trail that Emmett had built from the tool shed to the house was a winding path that took the pair through some of the otherwise thick foliage that hid the Cullen family's property from the prying eyes of the local townsfolk. The path brought them around to the side of the front yard and then between the six large, centuries-old cedar trees that were planted there.

The Cullen house was a century old, having been built before the first time that the Cullen coven resided in Forks. It had been extensively remodeled a few years prior, such that only a portion of the original three-story home remained. Aside from general repair work that had to be done in order to make the house habitable, one entire side of the rectangular house had been lined with floor to ceiling windows. Other additions included a garage large enough for all of the family cars and a basement.

Alex loved the off-white house; of the different homes he'd had throughout his life, this one was by far his favorite.

The duo made their way through the front door. Alex slipped his shoes off before moving by the raised platform where Edward's piano sat and the door that led to the kitchen. His destination was the large sitting area that was positioned left and diagonally from the entrance. His four other siblings were sitting around the television viewing area having a quiet discussion when Edward and Harry arrived.

"I quit school today," the human said without preamble.

The words had their desired effect. The discussion between the four vampires died immediately and Esme rushed through the kitchen door.

"You what?" Alex's mother demanded.

"Reynolds, it turns out, has been negotiating all summer long with a couple of foreign countries to bring the Triwizard Tournament to New England," the boy explained as he removed his glasses. As the vampires stared at him in shock, he fished his glasses case out of his bag and put the spectacles away. "What authority he had to do that, I don't know."

"Isn't that the competition that they had in Britain three years ago that a student got killed during?" Emmett questioned.

Alex looked over at the vampire. Emmett was the largest of the vampires. Built like a professional quarterback, he was a couple of inches taller than both Edward and Jasper and a full nine inches taller than his human brother. Of all of the vampires in the family, however, he bore the closest resemblance to Alex because of his dark brown hair; the human boy's unruly black hair tended to curl when it was more than an inch and a half long and so matched Emmett's dark hair, which was curly at any length. Alexander intentionally wore his black hair longer than he'd like so that he would look more like Emmett. The similar hair was part of why he masqueraded as Alex's biological brother. Because of his large size, he pretended to be Alex's oldest sibling—adopted or otherwise—despite having been turned into a vampire long after both Edward and Jasper.

"Unofficially, one student was killed. The Boy-Who-Lived, who too young to compete, was forced to take part as an illegal fourth competitor. He was kidnapped, tortured, and, according to a number of unofficial accounts, subjected to a ritual that restored a terrorist to his former glory. In the process, the two other competitors were subjected to Unforgivable Curses; one was controlled via the Imperius Curse and the other was tortured with the Cruciatus Curse.

"It's insanity. Pure and utter insanity. This thing puts the students, myself included, in very real danger. And Reynolds brought it to our school to try and angle for a promotion. And he did it all in secret so that anyone who could have done something to protect the students was left in the dark until it was too late."

"Oh, sweetheart," Esme said sympathetically.

Up until this point, Edward had kept his arm around Alex in a silent show of support, but he moved when the female vampire approached. Although Esme regarded all of the members of the coven other than her husband as her children, Alex was special. She had had the opportunity to actually raise him since he was a toddler. He would always be her little boy. Edward recognized when the vampire matriarch wanted to mother the boy and he always gave her the space to do so, regardless of his especially close relationship to him.

Esme leaned her heart-shaped face against the back of her son's head briefly as she hugged him from the side.

"I'm okay. It may not be a permanent thing."

"Oh?" his mother questioned as she released her son.

"I made a bit of a scene when I announced my departure. There was some yelling about the school's 'total disregard of student safety.' I made a point of ensuring that everyone knew why I objected to the Tournament being held at our school. There are good odds that dozens of parents are being told that the Student Body President resigned his post and withdrew from school because he was afraid that he or another underage student was going to be killed."

"You always were the sly one," statuesque Rosalie said from her place at Emmett's side. Tall with long blonde hair that fell to the middle of her back, she was stunningly attractive, even by vampire standards. "The Parent-Teacher Association will be up in arms before morning."

"My hope is that it will put a stop to the Tournament. If it does, then I will probably go back."

"And your plans if it doesn't work?" Rosalie inquired.

The human did his best to mimic Edward's crooked manner of smiling before saying, "I wonder if public school food is as bad as I remember."

"If the expressions of our classmates are anything to by, then it is still pretty awful," Alice said sympathetically.

Energetic Alice Cullen had the distinction of being the only one of the siblings who was shorter than Alexander. Standing at 4'10", the spiky-haired vampire was a good ten inches shorter than the mortal. There was a time when she was taller than him, but he had hit a growth spurt at the age of fourteen that allowed him to overtake her.

"So this is probably only temporary, right?" Esme asked in concern. "The board of trustees is bound to take action once the PTA gets involved."

It was a foregone conclusion in the Cullen household that Alexander was to become a vampire sometime between the ages of sixteen and twenty, just like his siblings. Although the issue had been formally put before him after his sixteenth birthday, there was never a doubt in anyone's mind that it was the human's strongest desire in the world to become a vampire and remain with his family for all eternity. That never stopped the various members of the family from becoming wary of incidents that may cause Alexander to miss out on once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Graduating from a school of magic was one such experience; once he was a vampire, attended a wizarding school would be out of the question.

"We could write to the important parents directly. A lot of them like Alex and will take up the cause if asked," Emmett suggested. "We can't just let Reynolds' jackassery go."

The different members of the family began to exchange ideas on how to force the Tournament away from the New England Academy of Magic. As the discussion progressed, it was not lost on Alex how quiet Jasper remained.

Jasper Hale was an empath. He was also the member of the coven who was the least close with Alexander. Newest to the non-human diet that the other members of the coven adhered to, the southern vampire had always struggled with having a human in the household. His difficulties were far more obvious than those of his other siblings. He would often leave for weeks at a time on hunting trips in order to avoid his mortal brother. The distance that he kept from Alex didn't really upset the human. At least, not on most days anymore.

"I'm going to throw my stuff in my room," the green-eyed boy said, interrupting the brainstorming session. He was drained, and standing amongst the group of perpetually energetic vampires made him feel down right exhausted.

"Okay, honey," Esme said. "I made cookies, so you'll need to come right back up if you want some while the chocolate is still gooey."

"Thanks, Mom," Alex said as he left the room and made for the basement.

The basement of the house had been added when the family moved to Forks a year before. The necessity of giving the sixteen-year-old his own floor of the house is readily understandable when one considers the difficulties associated with being the only human amongst a family of vampires.

Like all teenagers, Alex craves independence and privacy. That desire was usually frustrated by the enhanced senses of the vampires. Alex had grown up unable to sneak out of his room at night, sing to the songs on the radio, or even go to the bathroom without everyone else in the house knowing about it. So, when the family began having the Forks house remodeled, they put a significant amount of money into having a soundproof basement added so that Alex would finally have a little bit of privacy.

A second reason for allowing the teen to have the entire basement to himself was so that he wouldn't feel like a prisoner. During the school year, he couldn't allow himself to be seen by any of the townsfolk. If he was seen, someone would undoubtedly ask why he didn't attend the local school. Questions about private schools and commutes were often difficult to navigate without getting caught up in a lie; the answers to such questions were too easy for busybodies to check into. It was easier to tell people he attending a boarding school on the east coast and then rarely let him be seen. Alex, therefore, had to follow a strict rule about leaving the family's property.

Alexander opened the door to his bedroom and walked inside. Decorated in light shades of blue, the spacious room was his personal sanctum. After dropping his book bag by his homework desk, he walked over to his bed and flopped down with a relieved sigh. It had been a very long and tiring day, but it was mostly done.

"Still don't like being tired in front of the rest of us?" came Edward's voice from the threshold of the room.

Alex didn't bother to get up from where he was on the bed. He kept his face buried in his pillows and grunted at his brother.

Had it been anyone in the world other than Edward, Alex would have been at least a little irritated at being followed. But he'd always been especially close with Edward. It may have been because the vampire wasn't constantly being distracted by a mate of his own, but Alex preferred to think that they simply 'clicked' better. That they were somehow specially compatible.

In an instant, Edward had moved from his place at the threshold of Alex's room to a position sitting by his brother's sprawled form. The immortal placed a cool hand on the back of Alex's neck and massaged lightly.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

The human teen took in a deep breath before answering. "I don't know. I'd accepted the idea that I wasn't going to graduate. Reynolds hates me and, if he becomes headmaster at the end of the year, he'll undo everything I worked for over the last few years. He'll even undo the advances that were made before I got there. I wouldn't want to stick around for that. But . . ."

"That was still almost a year away," Edward Hale finished for his little brother.

Alex made a murmur of agreement before falling silent as he enjoyed the feeling of Edward's fingers on his neck and shoulders. After around a minute, he turned his head to the side and began to speak again. "The words just flew out of my mouth. One minute I was shouting about how terrible an idea the Triwizard Tournament was and, the next thing I knew, I heard myself resigning the presidency. All of the things I mentioned earlier about using my resignation and withdrawal from school to cause a stir so that things would be changed came later as I thought about what I'd done."

"I hate to see you unhappy," Edward said. "Why don't we go back upstairs? Chocolate always makes you feel better. And Carlisle will be home soon."

"_Dad_ won't be home for hours," Alex said as he turned himself over.

"Esme just got off of the phone with him."

The mortal didn't have the energy to correct his brother for calling his mother by her given name; he just wanted to take a nap after a long day.

"Don't make me carry you like I did when you were little," Edward joked as he leaned over Alex.

"Or you could just bring the cookies down to me," Alex said with a hopeful grin. He propped himself up slightly on his elbows. The motion put him into very close proximity to Edward.

If asked about it, Alex would not be able to explain why he suddenly felt very awake and alert. Nor would he be able to articulate why exactly his heart rate suddenly sped up. But as he lay there, his face no more than a half-foot away from Edward's, his body reacted like someone had shot him full of adrenaline.

"Alex!" Alice's voice called from the top of the stairs.

Edward stood up straight as both he and Alexander turned to look towards the still-open door to the room.

"Yeah!" the boy called out to his sister in return.

"Carlisle's home."

"I'll be right up!" he shouted, despite the fact that, with the door open, he could have simply spoken the words and the rest of the family would have heard them as clearly as if he had been in the same room as her. He then turned to look at Edward. "Go on, I'll be up right after I clean up a bit."

"Sure thing," the vampire responded before leaving the room, shutting the door on his way out.

"What was that?" Alex asked the empty room. He put his hand over his heart; he could still feel it pounding against his chest. If he could feel it, then Edward had undoubtedly heard it.

What, the wizard wondered, had the vampire thought of his reaction?

After taking the time to splash a little water on his face and otherwise 'be human' for a few minutes, Alex bounded up the stairs to welcome his father home from work.

At well over three hundred years of age, Carlisle Cullen was by far the oldest of the coven. Even in height to Edward's 6'2", the blond vampire patriarch possessed a level of compassion for humans that was uncanny. Rosalie had often quipped that Carlisle was far more compassionate towards humans than any real human was capable of being. As a result of this naturally gentle nature, Carlisle wasn't tempted by the scent of human blood in the least. Every other member of the coven aspired to gain his level of control.

"Hey, Dad," Alex began his greeting. "Get to slice anyone open today?"

Carlisle laughed at his son's question. "No, son, not today. It was fairly quiet. I stitched up a rather nasty cut that Chief Swan got while cleaning a fish, but that was about it. I heard that your day was a bit more eventful."

"It was," the boy admitted to his father a bit sheepishly.

"It will work out. I'm positive."

"Why are you so sure?" Alex questioned.

"Because," the vampire patriarch began to explain with a confident smile as he pulled a thick envelope from the inner pocket of his suit jacket, "this was waiting in the mailbox when I arrived home."

With a grin that spread from one ear to the other, Alex merrily took the letter from his father. "I wonder how long this has been here."

"I believe that I saw the owl leaving when I was coming up the drive."

Owls never remained at the Cullen household for long. Postal owls were far more intelligent and sensitive than normal owls were. They weren't taken in by the allure of a vampire the way other animals were; their enhanced senses warned them that it wasn't a good idea to stay around a household of predators. An owl would complete its delivery mission and then leave as quickly as possible. Because no owl would live with the family, other means had to be devised in order for Alex to respond to messages.

"What does it say?" Alice asked with ill-concealed anticipation as her little brother read through the letter.

"And who's it from?" Emmett questioned.

"It's from Headmaster Justinius," Alex answered his brother first as he re-read the letter a second time. "He wants me to meet with him before the start of classes tomorrow. He wants to discuss the Triwizard Tournament with me and 'other interested parties.'"

"'Other interested parties'? What does that mean?" Rosalie wondered.

"Probably the usual suspects," Edward answered her. "Reynolds and Brekenridge. Maybe someone from the PTA. And a couple of the old biddies from the Salem Witches Institute."

"Probably," Alex agreed. "It says that he's going to send a portkey through the box. If I don't accept his invitation, then I should just send it back to him."

Because of the inability of Alex to keep an owl, he typically sent his correspondence using a school owl. For messages that were time sensitive or that needed to be sent from home for other reasons, he'd purchased a pair of magic boxes. They had been Headmaster Justinius's idea: two small boxes that were based on the idea of Vanishing Cabinets. Put an item, such as a letter or a marble enchanted to act as a portkey, in one box and shut the lid. If the second box's lid was closed at the same time, the item would be transferred from the first box to the second one instantaneously.

"Are you going to accept?" the mind-reader inquired.

"Yes," the human said confidently. "Even if I decide not to go back to school there, this is a great opportunity. I might at least convince them to set up extra precautions for the Tournament. Or make Reynolds look like a real bastard."

"Language," his mother sternly admonished.

"Sorry," he said apologetically.

"I don't know where you get that sort of language from," she muttered.

"Emmett," Alex, Edward, Rosalie, and Alice all answered in unison. Emmett let out an indignant shout as the other began to laugh.


	3. Chapter 3

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 3: Two: Negotiations**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Two – Negotiations**

Alexander was waiting in the staff conference room of the New England Academy bright and early thfe next morning. He'd spent much of the previous evening making plans with his family. They did their best to help him figure out what to say to try and sway the other people who would likely be in attendance that the Tournament was a bad idea. They had also tried to prepare the mortal boy for what some of the other interested parties, Reynolds in particular, might say. The worst possible thing that Alex could do would be to lose his temper in the middle of the meeting.

The conference room was dominated by a long, rectangular table. At the head of the table was an empty seat for the headmaster. On what would be the headmaster's left sat the traditionalists, and to the right were the modernists. At least, those were the distinctions Alexander made in his mind.

Seated immediately to the left of the headmaster's chair was Professor Isaac Reynolds. The architect of the Academy's participation in the Triwizard Tournament, he was a portly Wizard with light brown hair and hazel eyes hidden behind thick glasses. In addition to teaching, he served as Deputy Headmaster in charge of students whose last names began with the letter N through Z.

More than anyone else in the room, Professor Reynolds valued the ancient traditions and customs of wizarding society. That was, perhaps, why he taught History of Magic. He was a Muggleborn who so envied the Purebloods that surrounded him when he was a student that he totally immersed himself into the old ways. He only wore robes, never Muggle clothes. While every other class permitted students to type their essays or handwrite them in pen or pencil on notebook paper, he insisted all work be done on parchment with a quill. He even did his best to rid himself of his Midwestern accent because most American Purebloods resided in the New England region.

Joining Reynolds was Teresa Westings. She was the chairwoman of the Salem Witches' Institute, an organization for traditionalist, Pureblood Witches. She was a very austere Witch in what Alexander estimated to be her forties. She had very dark brown eyes and matching hair worn in a very tight bun. She sat very stiffly in her chair, not speaking to anyone except to introduce herself—"Teresa Westings, of the Greenwich Westings"—whenever someone new entered the room.

Directly opposite of Reynolds was Professor Brekenridge. To her left was Abigail Weathercrest, the president of the PTA, and her son, Elric Weathercrest.

The Weathercrests were one of the oldest Pureblood families in all of America, boasting a lineage that stretched out well before Muggle colonization. They had fallen out of favor with the upper echelons of Pureblood society in recent years because of their liberal views on everything from the rights of non-human species to the administration of the New England Academy.

The source of the family's liberal views is found in the close relationship between Elric—who insisted on being called "Eric"—and Alex Cullen. Eric had been shielded from Muggle culture for most of his childhood but, after starting school becoming close friends with Alex, embraced the culture wholeheartedly. He rocked the Pureblood boat by using Muggle hair dye to turn his dark hair blond and by dating a Muggleborn Witch, Marcia Johnston. It infuriated Reynolds that Eric, who was the captain of the reigning champion Quodpot team and Student Body Vice President, would buck tradition so.

Abby Weathercrest was opposed to her son's "rebellion" until she had a heart-to-heart with her son about what he wanted out of life and why. Now, Alex counted her as his strongest supporter in the meeting.

After a tense silence that lasted for almost fifteen minutes, the door to the conference room finally opened. Alexander had expected the headmaster to enter through the door, but he didn't. At least, not at first. Instead, two crimson-robed Aurors entered the room.

The seated individuals sat for a moment in shock as the two Aurors walked the length of the room, silently cast a number of spells as they approached the large windows at the far end that overlooked the campus. Once they were satisfied with the results of those spells, they motioned to the door. Next entered the Secretary of Magic herself, Juniper Eda.

Everyone in the room who had been seated leapt to their feet as the Secretary entered. In a slow and deliberate manner, she walked across the room to the head of the table, an elderly male aide trailing after her.

Although Alexander had seen pictures of the woman during her most recent election, he'd never had the opportunity to meet her in person. Juniper Eda was a Witch of Japanese ancestry. She wore her long, dark hair in a ponytail that was held in place by a hand-carved hair ornament that resembled a butterfly. Alexander, like just about anyone that bothered to read anything about her inauguration, knew that the ornament had been given to her by a young child on the eve of her election for good luck. Similar ornaments had become quite popular amongst young Witches in the months that followed.

Two more Aurors took up positions by the door to the room before Headmaster Julian Justinius and three other men that Alexander didn't recognize entered the room. They took up positions at the end of the table opposite the Secretary with the headmaster sitting at the foot of the table and the three men sitting to his right.

Everyone remained standing until after the Secretary sat down and motioned for everyone to follow suit. "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," she spoke softly. "I've called this meeting to discuss a number of concerns that have been raised regarding the Triwizard Tournament. I believe that we should begin by introducing ourselves." She then turned to Professor Brekenridge and nodded her head.

"My name is Cordelia Brekenridge, ma'am. I am a deputy head of this school and professor of Charms."

"I am Abigail Weathercrest, president of the PTA and _very_ concerned parent, Madam Secretary."

"Umm, Eric Weathercrest. Student and Student Body Vice President," the teen to Alex's left said, before belatedly adding a "ma'am."

"Alexander Cullen, Madam Secretary. Former student and former Student Body President. And, for the record, Eric is now the Acting Student Body President."

"Ah," Secretary Eda said with sudden recognition, "you'd be the boy who started all of this controversy."

"With respect, Madam Secretary, I believe that would be Professor Reynolds," Alex replied coolly. He didn't miss the murderous glare the aforementioned professor shot him.

"Julian Justinius, headmaster," the old Wizard at the end of the table said before anyone could respond to Alex's statement.

The first of the three Wizards who entered with the headmaster spoke next. He was an elderly wizard with salt-and-pepper hair. "Marcus Brekenridge of the Board of Trustees," he introduced himself.

Alex's head whipped around to look at Professor Brekenridge, but she wouldn't meet his surprised eyes. Her gaze was fixed on a seemingly random point on the wall opposite of herself.

The next Wizard was a much younger man with flaming red hair and an excess of freckles. He was tall and spoke in a surprisingly high-pitched voice. "Samuel Richards, ma'am. I'm also a member on the Board."

"Willard Spencer. Board of Trustees," the next Wizard said in barely audible voice as soon as Richards had finished his introduction. This Wizard was a very tall man with dark skin and even darker eyes.

"Teresa Westings, of the Greenwich Westings, milady," Westings introduced herself in a simpering tone. It didn't surprise Alex in the least that she insisted on calling addressing the Secretary in such an outdated manner. She smiled at the Secretary and tilted her head to the side as she spoke. "I'm the chairwoman of the Salem Witches' Institute and am here representing the interests of the many, many fine members who have children at this school."

For a moment, Alex was sure Eric would say "bullshit" while trying to cover it with a cough.

"Professor Isaac Reynolds, milady. History of Magic Professor and Deputy Headmaster."

Secretary Eda eyed the room for a moment after the introductions concluded before she began speaking. "This is a very prominent group of individuals and I wish I was meeting some of you under more favorable circumstances. I have received no fewer than three dozen owls in the last twenty-four demanding that I take action to prevent this school from participating in the Triwizard Tournament." She turned her gaze to Alex. "Mr. Cullen, it is my understanding, after having read these letters and spoken to Headmaster Justinius, that much of the concern that these letters are expressing is echoed from your words and actions."

There was a pause as Alex waited to be certain that the Secretary was finished speaking. Once he was sure that she wanted an answer from him, he began to reply. "I don't know what concerns were expressed to you, ma'am. I only know what concerns I and my family have about this competition."

"Enlighten me, young man."

"It's dangerous," he said simply.

"If I may interrupt for a moment, milady. Every precaution will be taken to ensure the safety of the students," Reynolds interjected. "Mr. Cullen's reaction to the news of the Tournament was ill-informed. As a student, he wasn't involved in the decision-making process and so has no idea what steps are being taken."

"Everyone was left out of the decision-making process," Professor Brekenridge snapped. "You acted unilaterally to negotiate this mess."

"And I shouldn't have been excluded from the decision-making process. I was the Student Body President at the time," Alex added.

"First off," Reynolds said, turning his head to address the Secretary rather than either Cordelia Brekenridge or Alexander, "I simply took a bit of initiative to try and bring the Tournament here, as you well know, milady. I approached the other schools, made a few suggestions, and then let the Department of Magical Affairs take the lead from there. It was one of your own Division Heads that asked me to remain on in an advisory capacity to help iron out the details.

"Secondly, the Student Body President is charged with tasks such as planning school-hosted social activities. Like the prom. No student is entitled to make decisions on the this scale."

"Actually, the Student Body President has input in all school activities," Headmaster Justinius said. "It's in the Student Government Charter that the Board of Trustees ratified in the 1970s."

"I believe we're straying from the topic a bit," Secretary Eda said before things could proceed further.

Alexander knew that she was right. This was exactly what Professor Brekenridge had been worried about the day before; if they focused on Alex's exclusion from the decision-making process, then he'd just come across as an angry kid who didn't get his way. "You're correct, Madam Secretary. The issue is one of safety."

"But there are no safety concerns," Reynolds snapped. When he realized that he had raised his voice, his face flushed in embarrassment.

"No safety concerns?" Mrs. Weathercrest said incredulously.

"Exactly, no safety concerns. The appropriate steps have been taken to ensure student safety. The Goblet of Fire will select one student from each of the three participating schools that is most worthy of competing. It is a neutral arbiter that will select the New England student most capable of winning the Tournament," the bespectacled teacher explained.

"That's it?" Mrs. Weathercrest demanded. "After all of the things that happened at the last Tournament?"

Teresa Westings let out a clearly faked laugh. "Abby, darling, you haven't been reading the tabloids again, have you? Buying into all of Dumbledore's rot?"

"And if I am?" Abigail challenged.

"The official policy of my government is to accept Minister Fudge's assurances that the Dark Lord has not returned," Secretary Eda interjected. "Therefore, I will not act based on any suggestion that the last Triwizard Tournament was some sort of cover for his agents to restore him to power."

"That issue is superfluous, Madam Secretary," Alex said before any of his opponents could latch onto the official's statement to try and minimize the risk. He reached over to pull several copies of the _Daily_ _Prophet_—the most influential British wizarding newspaper—out of his bag. "'Boy-Who-Lived, 14, Named Fourth Champion,'" he read the headline from the first page before sliding it down to the Secretary. "'Fatality at Triwizard Tournament,'" he read the headline of the next newspaper before reading the lead-in of the cover story. "'Hogwarts Champion, Oliver Wood, was tragically killed during the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament.'

"The article goes on to discuss how the Beauxbaton Champion was tortured with the Cruciatus Curse and the Durmstrang Champion was bewitched with the Imperius Curse."

Silence reigned in the room as the Secretary picked up the newspapers and examined the indicated articles. "When I was briefed about this Tournament, I was informed that there had been some previous incidents, but I was led to believe that those were long past. Minister Fudge and the head of the Division of Magical Sports and Games assured me that the rumors about these incidents were fabricated by his political enemies. But given the _Daily_ _Prophet's_ biased tendencies in favor of the Minister, I find it hard to believe that it would print something clearly damaging to his regime if there weren't some truth to it."

The Secretary let the papers fall to the table before addressing Reynolds. "I have also been briefed on the security measures for the Tournament. As you have been allowed to take point in this matter, Professor Reynolds, would you care to indicate which measures have been implemented to correct the problems with the security at the previous Tournament?"

"O-Of course, milady. The professors will stand guard around the Goblet to ensure that no one's name is entered improperly," he answered.

"Why haven't any of the staff heard of this before?" Cordelia demanded.

Reynolds shot her a vicious glare before responding. "The logistics weren't ironed out just yet. Once we had finished conferring with Headmasters Dumbledore and Maxime, you and the other professors would be informed."

"And you, Headmaster Justinius? Were you aware of this plan?" the elder Brekenridge questioned.

"No, I was not. But after the Department made the decision to host the Tournament and made Professor Reynolds their point man in the ongoing negotiations, I decided to defer to his judgment. If it was decided that the professors were to provide security for the Goblet, I would support it."

"I am finding the level of 'initiative' that Professor Reynolds has shown to be . . . disturbing," Mr. Spencer said. He deliberated on his choice of words for a moment mid-sentence. "He is one of two Deputy Headmasters; I don't like the idea that he is making unilateral decisions for the school. At a minimum, Professor Brekenridge should have been consulted."

"As Headmaster Justinius said-" Reynolds began, only to be interrupted.

"Your initial decision to negotiate with the British and the French on this school's behalf without first acquiring the consent of the Board was an action well outside of the scope of your authority," Samuel Richards said harshly. "Regardless of what trust the headmaster and the DMA have since placed in you, _our_ consent was still required for all of the decisions you have been making."

Westings looked like she was about to jump to Professor Reynolds' defense. Before she could open her mouth, however, Secretary Eda began to speak once more.

"Gentlemen, save the internal school politics for another time; my government has already agreed to take part in the Tournament, so there is no backing out of it now. My concern at this point is the number of parents that have indicated that they will withdraw their children from this school rather than risk them competing. Previous experience has shown that mass withdrawals from this school have disastrous consequences. The infractions of the Statute of Secrecy alone . . . " she trailed off momentarily. "So my question for the PTA is this: what measures must be taken for you to be comfortable enough to allow your students to remain enrolled?" Secretary Eda asked. "Or, because you seem to be taking your lead from Mr. Cullen, perhaps I should put the question to him."

Alex found every eye in the room focused on him. He swallowed thickly for a moment before answering. "Tighter security is a must. I don't know that it is possible to be absolutely certain that nothing will go wrong, but the risk can be minimized by putting security in the hands of the Division of Magical Law Enforcement rather than the school and the Division of Magical Sports and Games.

"My larger concern is that we will have a repeat of the last Tournament: someone who doesn't want to participate being force into it. The best solution I have for that is to have every underage student and every of-age student who doesn't wish to participate sign a binding magical contract not to compete."

"An interesting idea," Professor Brekenridge mused. "If a student signs the contract before his or her name is entered into the Goblet, then it doesn't matter if the name pops out or not; the prior contract will have supremacy. In theory, it should work."

"Force every underage student to sign a binding magical contract?" Professor Reynolds said in dismay. "It is absurd; many of them will refuse."

"You saying you can't make a bunch of eleven- and twelve-year-olds sign a piece of paper?" Eric challenged, his voice dripping with amusement.

"And no of-age student in his right mind would sign; being named a champion is an honor," Reynolds continued as if Eric hadn't spoken at all.

"Some of-age students won't be given a choice," Mrs. Weathercrest said firmly.

"Headmaster, what do you have to say about these precautions?" Secretary Eda asked.

The old Wizard stroked his short beard and thought for a few seconds. "I believe that they will be acceptable, provided that the involvement of your Aurors does not disrupt the normal day-to-day operations of the school."

"It is decided, then" Eda said as she stood up. "The Department of Magical Law Enforcement will handle security and a binding magical contract will be used to ensure that underage students and of-age abstainers are not forced to participate." She turned to look at Alex. "And, I trust, Mr. Cullen will be returning to classes and giving the Department his full and public support in this matter."

"Yes, ma'am," Alexander answered as Eric nudged him under the table.

The meeting broke up at that point. Secretary Eda, busy person that she was, left swiftly amid the small contingent of Aurors. Her aide trailed after her.

As soon as the Secretary and her entourage had left, Professor Reynolds swept from the room, Professor Brekenridge hot on his heels.

The members of the Board of Trustees immediately began to discuss the events of the meeting with the headmaster. Chairwoman Westings stood off to the side of the conversation, both eavesdropping and waiting for the opportunity to talk to the four powerful Wizards.

The board members seemed to be quite put out by the whole affair. Alexander wasn't sure if they were more irritated because he had created a large enough stir that the Secretary of Magical Affairs herself felt the need to intervene or because of the way Reynolds had circumvented their authority in the first place.

"You were surprisingly restrained," Mrs. Weathercrest said with a smirk as she ushered both Eric and Alex towards the door.

"My family gave me a few pointers last night after I got the headmaster's letter," the sixth-year Wizard explained. "Speaking of which, I need to send a quick note to let my mom know that I'll be staying here."

Alexander caught Headmaster Justinius's eye while he said the last bit. The older Wizard gave a tight smile and nodded his head; it was a silent way of him giving the Cullen boy permission to use the magical box in his office to contact his mother.

Eric, Abigail, and Alex left the room and walked right into the middle of an argument between Professors Brekenridge and Reynolds.

"So what did you do, call in daddy to help your little pet?" the male professor demanded furiously.

"Is that jealousy I hear in you voice, Isaac?" she asked with pursed lips.

Professor Reynolds was about to snap something back when he noticed the trio of newcomers. "Well, well, if it isn't the little politician himself. Probably think you're quite the important fellow now, don't you? Creating enough problems that Secretary Eda had to come in and fix them."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you caused the problems," Mrs. Westings retorted.

Reynolds glared at the Witch. He was so angry that his nostrils were flaring. After a few seconds, he smiled deviously and turned back to Alex. "At least one good thing came from all of this. You aren't the Student Body President anymore."

"Now wait one minute," Brekenridge began to protest.

"He resigned," the heavy-set wizard said with great satisfaction. "He may have come back to school, but he still resigned his post."

It was true, and Alex knew it. He had resigned his position when he withdrew from school. The fact that he hadn't and wouldn't miss any classes as a result of that withdrawal didn't really matter. For a period of about sixteen hours, he wasn't a student at the New England Academy of Magic.

"Oh, that reminds me," Eric said as he began to dig around in his bag. He pulled out a very abused looking form and presented it along with an ink pen to Alex. "Sign, please."

Alex took the form and read it over. "You're joking, right?"

"No way, man. I ain't doing your job. I ran for VP because I get the little line on my résumé without it messing with practice."

Abigail Weathercrest looked over Alex's shoulder to read the form. "What is it?"

"A petition to put Alex's name on the ballot for the special election," Eric said with a goofy grin. "Marcia pointed out to that the bylaws say that whenever the post of Student Body President is left vacant, either the VP takes over or there has to be a special election to pick a replacement. There ain't nothing that says he can't run again. I just need your John Hancock right here stating that you want to run."

"You need his what?" Abigail questioned.

"My signature," Alex explained as he signed the form. "It's a Muggle expression."

"We'll meet the required number of student signatures by lunch, dude," Eric said with another goofy-looking grin.

The mortal Cullen smiled at his friend before flashing a goofy grin of his own at Professor Reynolds. All things considered, it was turning out to be a pretty good day.

A/N: The next chapter will take us all the way up to the arrival of the other schools for the Tournament.


	4. Chapter 4

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 4: Three: Final Preparations**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Three – Final Preparations**

Alexander Cullen was sitting in the student government office on the third floor of the campus's central building. It appeared that in the week that passed from his resignation to his re-election to the office of Student Body President, then-Acting President Eric Weathercrest hadn't done a single bit of office work. Not even a paperclip was out of place.

With a tired sigh, Alex took the stack of papers that were sitting in the inbox and began to prioritize them.

"Hey man, why aren't you out celebrating?" Eric's deep voice came from the office door.

The sixteen-year-old looked up at his friend and gave him a wry grin. "I have work to do. You know that I have work to do, because it is the work you should have been doing for the past week."

"Hey, that's not fair. I gave the morning announcements, didn't I?"

"Yes, but that appears to be all that you did."

The bleach-blond athlete crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the door frame. "I told you, bro, I didn't become VP to do work."

"Yeah, yeah," Alexander muttered as he sorted through the stack of papers. "Why are you still here? Shouldn't you and Marcia be off doing something?"

"Nah, she's busy. Got a part-time job."

"Good for her."

The Quodpot player let out an unexpected laugh a moment later. "Also, I couldn't resist watching Cirilla bitch to Reynolds about losing the election."

"You'd think she actually expected to win," the green-eyed boy said leaning back in his chair. "I mean, who in their right actually runs on a platform of re-instating mandatory uniforms? She had to know that the only votes she was going to get were from her like-minded friends."

"Also bitches," Eric pointed out.

"Wanting the traditional uniforms back doesn't make them bitches."

"No, being bitchy 24/7 makes them bitches. But hey, this whole thing is just one of the constants of this school. My team will always win the championship, Reynolds will always be a prick, and Cirilla will always lose the election."

"Now that's just not true," Alex said sternly. "Eventually, we'll graduate."

The larger teen let out a barking laugh. "I guess that's true. So what do you have on your plate?"

Looking back down at the stack of papers, Alexander replied. "Hmmm, it looks like the only pressing thing is the dinner on the night that the other schools arrive."

"You have to plan the dinner? I thought that was something for the House Elves."

"It is, but I have to make a few non-essential decisions. There is also a request from the headmaster for me to try and do something to promote interaction amongst the students of the different schools. I'm toying with the idea of trying to split everyone from our school up so that there will be at least a few of us on hand at each table to field their questions."

Eric made a grunt to let Alexander know that he thought the idea was a bad one.

"You don't like it?"

"I don't think that I want to sit at a table with a bunch of people I might be competing against in a few weeks."

"I take it then that you're planning on putting your name in the Goblet?" Alex questioned, the topic of the conversation moving away from the issue of seating.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I am. My mom doesn't really want me to and Marcia's gonna bust my balls over it, but I kinda like the idea of 'eternal glory.'"

"Some eternal glory. Secretary Eda didn't even seem to know that the Boy-Who-Lived competed in the last Tournament. And he won the damned thing," the Student Body President said.

"Yeah, but I bet everyone in his own country knows that he won."

"Point," Alex conceded.

"So, yeah, I think I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna enter."

"Well, you know you can count on me to provide you as much support as you need. And Marcia and your mom will come around."

"You seem pretty confident that my name is gonna come out of the Goblet," Eric pointed out.

Alex gathered up the stack of papers and slid them into his bag. "Why shouldn't I be? Who else in this school is it gonna be?"

Eric shot his friend a confident grin. "I'd lay good money on Cirilla thinking it should be her."

"Cirilla won't put her name in. The Tournament might cause her to scuff her shoes or something. Besides, it would bruise her ego too much to be beaten by a Mudblood in the election and then have a Blood Traitor's name come out of the Goblet of Fire instead of hers in the same two-week period," Alex joked back as he made for the door.

"Heading out? It's a bit early for you, isn't it? I mean, your sibs are still in school."

"They should be. But I'm hungry, so I think I'll just work from home anyway."

"Better quality eats than what you'll get around here, that's for sure," Eric said as the pair made their way out of the office.

"Also, Alice is great at party planning, so the real work won't get done until she's home from school anyway."

The pair made their way across campus, quietly discussing the best way for Eric to break the news to his mother and his girlfriend that he was going to enter the Tournament. Eric was in favor of putting his name in and then just waiting to see if his name came out. Alex pointed out that if that was his plan, he should be prepared to get his ass kicked by the two Witches when and if his name erupted from the Goblet.

No real decision was reached before the pair arrived at the portkey point and was, therefore, forced to split up. Eric returned to his family's estate in North Salem, New York while Alex returned to the Cullen family's home in Forks, Washington.

Because he returned home earlier than usual, Alex wasn't greeted by any member of his family. He didn't waste any time enjoying the walk back to the house; he moved to the residence at a brisk pace.

Upon entering the house, Alexander called out to his mother to let her know that he was home.

"She isn't here," came Edward's soft reply from his seat at the grand piano. "She had a meeting with an engineer in Port Angeles."

"Edward," Alex greeted in surprise. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Mental health day," the vampire explained. "I couldn't bear having to discuss 'Pride and Prejudice' yet again."

The mortal boy smirked at his adoptive brother as he made his way over to lean on the piano. "You see, when I start Muggle school, you'll need to stick by me for that sort of thing. At least the first time around."

Edward gave the mortal a warm smile. "Nothing would make me happier."

"That's just because you have low standards," Alex quipped.

"You know why I'm home, how about you tell me why you're home so early."

"School has been out for me for the better part of an hour," the darker-haired boy explained.

"Shouldn't you be celebrating with your friends?"

"That easy to figure out that I won?"

"Was there ever any doubt?" Edward questioned. "You've beaten Cirilla Bellcroft three times before and she was the only person running against you, wasn't she?"

"I'm going to get a big head if you people don't start at least acting like it was hard-fought victory."

"Don't you mean 'bigger' head?"

"Watch it, vamp-boy."

The immortal laughed musically before reiterating his earlier question, "So why did you go ahead and come home instead of staying until classes in Forks are dismissed as you usually do?"

"It's more comfortable here," Alex answered.

"Is that human code for 'there is a fully-stocked kitchen'?"

"Absolutely," the mortal answered as he moved around the piano and into the kitchen.

The kitchen was large; too large for a family that only had one person who ever actually ate food. The rectangular kitchen boasted all of the latest appliances available for a gourmet chef. At the far end of the kitchen opposite of the door was a breakfast bar with a pair of stools. Next the bar was a space that opened up into the formal dining room that was separated from the television viewing area by a curved dividing wall.

Alex spent a few minutes searching the cabinets before deciding to eat a bar of chocolate.

"Not the healthiest afterschool snack. Perhaps you should have some fruit," Edward suggested as he entered the kitchen.

"I should, I could, but I won't," Alex said as he sat himself down on one of the bar stools. He opened the candy bar's wrapper and began to break the bar into smaller pieces with one hand as he pulled his paperwork out of his bag with his other hand.

Edward sat himself down next to the Wizard. He leaned over and began to read the papers that Alex had brought home.

"You have to plan a dinner? Alice will love you if you let her help."

"Alice already loves," Alex said dismissively. "But I plan on asking her help anyway. I'll also want her help with a ball that we have to have later in the year."

"She'll be thrilled. Though Rosalie and Jasper have more first-hand experience with that sort of thing."

Of course Rosalie and Jasper had more experience attending balls. Rosalie was raised in the upper crust of society where that sort of thing was common. And Jasper was raised in the south; he'd had a fair amount of experience taking young, Southern belles to extravagant balls. Not that Alex really knew too much about that; he'd never really had more than a small handful of in-depth heart-to-hearts with his empathic brother.

"Don't let Alice hear you say that," Edward warned good-naturedly. Alex wasn't sure it if was about his statement about Rosalie and Jasper having more experience with balls than her or his thoughts about really connecting with Jasper.

"So if you're going to let Alice help you with this first party, then why are you glaring at the paper so?"

Rather than simply let the immortal pick the answer out of his head, Alex opted to simply explain his concerns. "I was opposed to the Tournament for safety reasons, not philosophical. The idea of holding a friendly sporting event between schools of different nations in an attempt to foster goodwill and cooperation is a good one.

"The problem that I'm having at the moment is with something Eric said to me. I suggested we split the New England students up so that every table at the dinner will have at least some of our students there to answer questions and help our guests acclimate themselves. Eric said that he didn't like the idea; he didn't want to sit and act all friendly with a bunch of student who may be his competition in the not-too-distant future."

"You're worried that the fact that it _is_ a competition will make the students less interested in building bridges," Edward surmised.

"Precisely. I don't want the purpose of the Tournament to be lost amidst all of the rivalry. It should be a friendly competition, not cut-throat."

"I think that the idea of having a few of the New England students at each table is a good one, but you have to make sure that they are students who are interested in making friends with the newcomers. Or, at a minimum, are interested in making a good impression."

Alex placed the stack of papers down, "So what I need to do is figure out how to make sure the students want to make friends or a good impression. How do I do that?"

"I'm confident you'll figure something out," Edward said as reached over and placed his hand on top of Alex's in a reassuring manner.

The pair sat in silence for a few seconds as the vampire gently squeezed the Wizard's hand. Once again, Alex could feel his heart begin to beat rapidly in his chest for some unknown reason.

"Edward," the human began.

"She's home," Edward said abruptly as he removed his hand.

"What?" Alex asked, not following the abrupt change in the conversation.

"Esme," the immortal explained as he rose from his bar stool. "I just heard her car pull into the drive."

"Oh," the green-eyed boy said. He followed Edward's lead and got up off of his stool and moved to greet his mother.

Alexander forced himself to remain busy for the rest of the evening, which wasn't hard. Although he had plenty to do given the short amount of time that he had before the student population would triple, he was mostly interested keeping his mind busy so that he was not thinking about the strange reactions he was having to Edward's presence. He wanted to think about the situation and analyze it, but he didn't want to think about it at home where Edward would overhear is every thought. So mortal spent his evening thinking about school.

By the next morning, he had formulated a plan to address his concerns and decided to implement it as soon as possible. After running the idea past Professor Brekenridge and getting her support, he headed off towards the main administrative office so that he could make the morning announcements.

"Morning, Alex," Eric greeted as the younger Wizard entered the main administrative office on the first floor of the central building. The older boy was sitting on the long counter that separated the area that non-staff members were allowed to be in from the work area.

"Good morning. Not to sound rude, but what are you doing here?"

"I thought you could use a bit of an introduction to get you back into the swing of things," the Vice President explained before producing his yew wand.

"I don't need anyone to introduce me; everyone here knows my name. Isn't that right, Mrs. Roberts?"

Doreen Roberts was the school's head administrative assistant. She was a short, no-nonsense woman who was very proud of having been raised in Savannah, Georgia. She looked up from her desk to look at the two boys. "Of course we do, Alex," she said kindly before leveling a glare at Eric. "You had best be moving before I use a Blasting Hex to make sure to can't sit for a week."

Eric slid off the counter and walked over to Alex. "So, did you get all that paperwork done?"

"I did," Alex replied. "What did you do with your evening?"

"The usual," the seventeen-year-old replied with a careless shrug. "Video games, dinner with my mom, then a long talk with Marcia on the phone."

"Cool."

Mrs. Roberts got up from her desk and handed Alexander a sheet of paper with the announcements on them.

Before Alexander could stop him, Eric put his wand to his throat and began to speak.

"Goooood morning, New England Academy!" he shouted, much to Mrs. Roberts' displeasure. His wand amplified his voice so that it boomed throughout the campus. "This is your Veep speaking, letting you know that it is time for your morning announcements. Without further ado," he said before his voice took on a ridiculously official tone, "ladies and gentlemen, the President of the New England Academy of Magic."

It took all of Alexander Cullen's considerable self-control not to laugh at his friend's antics. Forcing himself to keep a straight face and a steady voice, he pulled out his own wand—an unyielding rod of ash, stained dark red with a hemlock leaf pattern carved into it and a core of sphinx wing feather—and put it to his throat.

"Good morning. This Alexander Cullen bringing you your morning announcements," the teen began. For the next several minutes, he read over the announcements that he'd been given. The topics were mundane and included such things as a reminder about not impeding the custodial staff's efforts to prepare the campus for the arrival of the foreign students to the menu for that day's lunch.

After completing his recitation of the required morning announcements, Alexander put the piece of paper down and began to speak extemporaneously. "As everyone is now aware, our school will be playing host to the Triwizard Tournament. This is a monumental and historic event because it is the first time that a non-European school has been allowed to participate. But more importantly, we are all being given the opportunity to make new friends from distant countries.

"On Friday morning, students from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic will be arriving at our school. That evening, we will host a dinner in honor of out guests in order to properly welcome them. Those students who typically commute home before dinner are strongly encouraged to stay to properly welcome our guests.

"Although these students will be our rivals and competition in the Triwizard Tournament, I urge each and every one of you to show them our brand of hospitality. More than a chance at eternal glory, this competition represents what will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most of us to make friends from distant lands and to learn about new cultures. In that spirit and in my capacity as your Student Body President, I am at this time announcing the creation of a new student organization: the New England Academy of Magic Student Ambassadors.

"The students in this organization, myself included, will help our guests to feel at home on our campus. We will be spread throughout the dining hall during the Welcoming Dinner this Friday evening in order to greet the visiting students and answer their questions about life here. Make no mistake my friends, we shall take the initiative in this situation and extend our hands in friends to the students of Beauxbatons and Hogwarts.

"I invite you all to join the Student Ambassadors. The organization's first meeting will be this afternoon immediately after classes are dismissed for the day. This concludes the announcements. I wish you all a pleasant day. Thank you."

With that, Alexander removed his wand from his throat.

"Student Ambassadors?" Eric questioned him.

Alexander answered as he made his way towards the door. "Professor Brekenridge agreed that it was a good idea; she's our faculty sponsor."

"'Our'? You aren't expecting me to join, are you?"

Turning midstride to answer, the youngest of the Cullens gave his best mortal friend a mischievous grin. "No. But Marcia already agreed to join, so if you want sit with her during the dinner, you're going to have to sit with some of the foreign kids anyway."

The rest of the week was fairly uneventful. Alexander spent copious amounts of time trying to get things ready for the arrival of the other schools. It often felt like a losing battle, but by the scheduled time of their arrival, everything had come together. So there he stood alongside his classmates and instructors on Friday afternoon, waiting for the new students to make their appearance.

"So, how are they arriving?" Marcia asked excitedly from Alex's right.

Marcia Johnston was a Mugglebron student who was often amazed whenever she was exposed to some new aspect of magical life. She was just slightly shorter than Alexander at 5'7" and wore her mousy brown hair in a French braid. She was holding onto Eric's arm tightly.

"The Beauxbatons students use a large, flying carriage, if I remember correctly," Alexander answered his friend. "And I don't know for sure, but I believe that the Hogwarts students will be arriving by train."

"Um, not to burst your bubble, dude, but we're on an island," Eric pointed out.

The bespectacled boy didn't answer his friend's statement aloud. Instead, he just pointed to the far end of the island where a set of metal train tracks were barely visible emerging from the water.

As if on cue, a large, red steam engine broke the surface of the water and made its way onto the island campus. It continued for a ways, pulling several passenger compartments out of the cold Atlantic waters.

"They rode a train underwater?" someone to Alexander's left said in surprise.

After a few minutes, the train came to a stop and the students and faculty members began to disembark. They stood near the train for a bit, surveying their surroundings before they began to make their way towards the school. An ancient-looking Wizard with a very long beard and midnight blue robes was at the lead. He was easily recognizable as former Supreme Mugwup of the International Confederation of Wizards, Albus Dumbledore.

Amidst the mass of Wizards and Witches, Alexander was able to spot another easily recognizable Wizard. Jonathan Potter: The Boy-Who-Lived.


	5. Chapter 5

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 5: Four: Welcome**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. Thifs is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Four – Welcome**

It was not long after the Hogwarts' train arrived that the magnificent carriage of the Beauxbatons Academy descended from the sky. Once all of the visiting students had disembarked, the New England students began to help their settle in; it was a process that took hours.

The biggest challenge was the sheer number of students that would be staying at the New England Academy. At the previous Triwizard Tournament, only the senior class of each school had stayed at Hogwarts throughout the year; the lower years would make appearances only when a major event, like one of the Tournament's tasks, occurred. The decision to have the senior students study abroad with only their head as an instructor resulted in some of the worst standardized test scores in the history of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. No single professor, not even a headmaster, was proficient enough in every subject to be able to properly teach a full one-seventh of the student population everything that they needed to know.

The reluctance of the British and French Ministries of Magic to risk a repeat of such abysmal test scores had been one of the biggest hurdles in convincing them to commit to the Tournament a second time. The only three plausible solutions that were suggested were to (1) have the visiting schools hire additional professors so that the students could travel with a full complement of professors while leaving another complement back at home, (2) have the professors of the host school instruct the visiting students in addition to their own, or (3) have the entire populations of both students and professors of the visiting schools reside at the host school.

The first option had been immediately dismissed by the British Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. He was unwilling to arrange for the funds to hire new professors out of the Ministry's coffers and was unable to convince the Hogwarts' Board of Governors to arrange the funds from the school's. The second option had been dismissed by Headmaster Justinius and Headmistresses Olympe Maxime of Beauxbatons because of incompatibilities in the different schools' curriculums. That only left option number three.

The third option wasn't a very desirable one. It would effectively triple the student population of the host school. When the Tournament had been held at Hogwarts three years prior, the visiting students lived in whatever mode of transportation they utilized to reach the school; except for meals, the Durmstrang students lived on their ship and the Beauxbatons students lived in their giant carriage.

The New England Academy, however, presented a unique solution to the problem. Although it had the facilities necessary for every student to live there, only one-half of the student population actually lived on campus. This meant that one-half of all of the dorms were already empty. By magically expanding the two-person rooms into the sort of rooms that the other schools utilized to house five or more students, the school would be able to house everyone it needed to. The space inside the Hogwarts train and the Beauxbatons carriage would be used as classrooms for their respective schools, but the New England Academy of Magic's dorms would serve as living quarters for everybody.

This solution, however, had two major flaws. First of all, Professor Reynolds had sorely underestimated the backlash his plan would receive from the students who lived on campus who were being forced to live five or more to a magically-expanded room rather than the traditional two to a room that they were accustomed to. Secondly, the plan failed to take into account the fact that only the dorm rooms and other enclosed common spaces—such as the dining hall—would be expanded.

Alexander Cullen had spent the better part of four hours wading through perpetually cramped hallways and a surprisingly congested courtyard. He was doing his best to help the visiting students reach their dorms, but was finding it to be extremely difficult to push his way through the mixture of other students searching for their rooms and the New England students who were standing around gawking or otherwise making nuisances of themselves.

The boy took a deep breath once he managed to push his way through the line of Beauxbatons students who were standing at the top of the staircase. The main hallway on the third floor of the central building was, thankfully, devoid of students for the moment. A few seconds after entering the hall, he was inside the student government office.

The office had a very simply layout to it. It was a rectangular room with a total of five desks in it: two on the left side, two on the right side, and the Student Body President's desk directly opposite of the door with its back to the large window overlooking the campus. There were a few file cabinets in one of the far corners of the room and a small storage closet positioned at the other.

Eric and Marcia were sitting in the two desks on the left. Although Eric, as the Student Body Vice-President, was the only one of the two who was actually supposed to be allowed in the office, Alex generally didn't mind him sneaking his girlfriend in.

"This is insane," Alexander said as soon as he shut the door behind himself.

"Tell me about it," Eric said from across the room. His face was bright red as if he'd been shouting at someone or had doing some heavy lifting. "Why are they even in this building? There aren't any dorms here."

"They're exploring," Marcia placated. "They're in uncharted territory and want to get the lay of the land."

The Cullen Wizard made is way over to the storage closet, opened it up, and pulled out a dry-cleaning bag. "As long as no one wanders in here, I should be able to maintain at least a shred of my sanity." He looked over at his two friends before asking, "Aren't you two going to change?"

"We're going as-is," Marcia said with a smirk.

Alexander took a moment to examine what his friends were wearing. Marcia was wearing a simple black skirt with a bright red sweater. The outfit was nice, not what the faculty members were expecting. Eric, by comparison, was wearing a dark baseball shirt and a pair of too-long khaki pants that were frayed at the bottoms of the legs from where he'd consistently stepped on them as he walked.

"Reynolds is gonna freak," the sixteen-year-old Wizard said with a shake of his head. "And you know who he's gonna blame, don't you?"

"He blames you for everything," Eric said flippantly. "Why should you care if you get one more thing piled at your feet?"

The bespectacled boy gave a grunt in reply. "Whatever." He looked over at Marcia before saying, "We've got less than fifteen minutes before we need to be in the Dining Hall, would you mind stepping out so that I can change?"

"Look at Mr. Modesty, here. Got something you don't want me to see? Or is it Eric you're worried about?" Marcia added an exaggeratedly high-pitched giggle to go with the jab. She felt a great sense of pride at the soft blush that spread across Alexander's cheeks.

The couple left Alexander to change into the dark suit he had stashed in the office the day before. He had always had very simple tastes in clothing, but Alice and Rosalie had insisted on buying him a significant quantity of designer clothes. He didn't care about fashion, but was willing to let them pick out his clothes for this sort of occasion if for no other reason than to avoid having to hear them complain about what he would have opted to wear. If it were up to him, he would just wear an inexpensive white shirt with a sweater vest rather than the fancy black suit with its dark shirt that was just a shade lighter.

After changing into the suit and putting gel in his hair to control the curl a bit, the Cullen teen set off to join his friends. Alex arrived first, but Marcia and Eric met him in the Dining Hall a very short while later. Together with the other Student Ambassadors, they were a few minutes earlier than the rest of the diners.

The Dining Hall sat at the back of the central building and was modeled after the dining hall of the Muggle University. The room was a large octagon, surrounded on five sides by glass windows that looked out onto the expertly manicured lawns and hedges and, in the distance, the rocky cliffs that made up the western shore of the island. The three remaining sides of the room were at what most people considered to be the head of the room; the center of the three sides sat parallel to a long table for staff members to dine at while the two adjoining sides had doors that led into opposite wings of the central building. The main entrance to the room sat opposite of the staff table.

The interior of the room had been tripled in size to accommodate the visiting students. The increased size resulted in an awkward view when looking from the outside in; the inside appeared much too large for the space it occupied. Marcia had compared it to an optical illusion she'd seen in a Muggle book.

The number of circular tables sitting inside the room had also been tripled. The room normally had a buffet line sitting off to one side of the room for students to pick up their lunches from. On this night, however, the buffet had been removed because the food was being transported directly to the tables by House Elf magic.

"Okay everyone," the Student Body President began once he'd done a headcount and confirmed that everyone was present. Not a single person stopped talking about the new students in order to pay attention. "Excuse me," he tried again.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Eric shouted.

Everyone fell silent.

"Thanks," Alexander whispered to his VP. "Now, we only have a few minutes before everyone else shows up, so let's get moving. I want at least one of your at every table; those of your that are extra, join a friend."

Everyone remained in place, just staring at Alexander. "Umm . . . Disperse?"

After a few seconds, the Student Ambassadors began to move about the room and take up positions at the different tables.

"Y'know, I seem to remember a time when I commanded a bit more respect than that," the black-haired boy complained aloud.

It was true; there was a time when Alexander Cullen would speak and the entire room would fall silent to hear his ideas. But ever since his withdrawal and subsequent return to classes, all of the students seemed a bit colder to him.

"You caused a bit of a panic and then you left," Marcia pointed out matter-of-factly. "A lot of student felt abandoned when you did that."

Alex Cullen frowned deeply. "I was only gone for a day. If they didn't want me back, then they shouldn't have re-elected me."

The Quodpot player snorted. "Think of the alternative."

"I'll just have to win them back," the younger boy said before moving towards the nearest table and sitting himself down. When Eric and Marcia joined him, he had to ask, "What are you doing?"

"All of the other tables have at least one Student Ambassador, so we're doing what you said: finding a friend," the Witch said cheerfully.

Eric shrugged. "Well, _she's_ doing what you said," he explained, motioning towards the Witch with his thumb. "I'm not part of your little club, so I'm just sitting with my lady love."

Any further discussion was cut off by the main doors of the room opening and the arrival of the students and staff of the three schools. The New England students were easily visible in their wildly varied clothes amid the mass of primarily black robed Hogwarts students and the blue silk uniforms worn by the Beauxbatons students.

Many of the students were watching the Boy-Who-Lived, Jonathan Potter, with rapt attention. He stood at an even six feet tall and kept his black hair very short; the famed lightning bolt-shaped scar was easily visible. His hazel eyes were hidden behind Coke-bottle glasses that were something of a trademark for the boy. He was walking hand-in-hand with a dark-haired girl of about the same age. She had a very athletic build.

Within a few minutes, five students had joined the three New Englanders at their table. They were all Hogwarts students.

The first was a Witch with bushy brown hair and buckteeth. Her dark school uniform had red accents on it, suggesting that she was from Gryffindor House. As she crossed the room, she seemed to marvel at the sight of so many young Witches and Wizards gathered in one place.

The second student was a blond Wizard with wiry blond hair. His robes were lined in red, telling Alexander that he too hailed from Gryffindor House. He walked over to the table with a careless swagger, his arm snaking around the waist of the third of the group, a fairly pretty Witch who looked to be about the same age as Alexander and Marcia. The Witch had red hair and hazel eyes and wore robes lined with blue fabric; she was a Ravenclaw, if Alexander remembered the Hogwarts house colors correctly.

The fourth Howarts student was younger than the others by several years. The Wizard wore robes that were lined in yellow, denoting Hufflepuff House. He had red hair and the same hazel eyes as the Ravenclaw girl. The similar eyes, coupled with the way he stuck very close to the older Witch, suggested that he was her younger brother or another fairly close relative.

The last of the students was a Wizard with very light blond hair and gray eyes. He was tall and lanky. By the green in his Hogwarts' robes, Alexander knew that he was from Slytherin House. More interesting than his appearance, however, was the way he followed the red-headed Witch but, at the same time, kept a safe distance from her. Also of note was the strange manner in which his eyes darted about the room as though he was expecting to be attacked at any moment.

By the time the new students had settled themselves down and given a few nervous nods to the New England students, Headmaster Justinius stood up from the staff table and began to address the masses.

"Students. Friend from distant lands. Honored guests. Good evening, and welcome to the New England Academy of Magic." The Wizard took the time to nod his head to the assembled group of professors and guests sitting at the large table—the gargantuan Madam Maxime and comparably frail-looking Headmaster Dumbledore in particular—before he continued.

"We are honored to be hosting the Triwizard Tournament. Without further ado, I present to you all, the Goblet of Fire."

An elaborate metal case was moved into the area directly in front of the staff table by several members of the school's support staff. Once the case was in place, it opened up, seemingly on its own accord, and an ancient-looking goblet rose from within. Once it was out of the box, a flame burst to life in the cup; the effect was greeted by applause from the assembled Witches and Wizards.

"The Goblet of Fire will burn for exactly thirty-six hours. During this time, students may submit their names for consideration to compete in the Tournament. As you are all aware, all underage students have been required to sign a binding magical contract not to compete and all of-age students not wishing to be considered have been given the same opportunity. As such, only of-age students who have not opted-out of the Tournament should bother entering their names as only they may compete if selected.

"At this time on Monday evening, the Goblet of Fire will judge all of the names submitted to it and select one student from each school to participate in the Tournament. The three students selected to compete will face challenges that will test their hearts, their bodies, and their minds. To the victor of the Tournament, eternal glory and a prize of one-thousand galleons.

"As you have all had long days, I shall conclude by saying 'good luck' to those that wish to enter their names, and 'bon appetite'."

At the conclusion of Headmaster Justinius's remarks, all of the tables were magically filled with food and utensils. Everyone had a bowl of spicy soup; a small salad; a plate of roast beef, roasted potatoes, and carrots; and piece of cheesecake. There was a single basket of bread at each table to be shared and pitchers of water and pumpkin juice.

The bushy-haired Witch wasted no time in introducing herself once it safe to talk. "I'm Hermione Granger," she said quickly.

"Alexander Cullen," the green-eyed Wizard replied. He couldn't help but smile at the Witch's exuberance. He then motioned to his friends. "This is Marcia Johnston and that is Eric Weathercrest."

The blond Slytherin's eyes darted towards Eric as soon as he heard his name. His eyes lingered on the bleach blond for a moment before he turned his attention to his plate.

Over the next few minutes of awkward conversation, Alexander learned the names of the Hogwarts students sitting at his table. The blond boy who seemed to be nervous about the other students in the Dining Hall was named Draco Malfoy. The older blond Wizard's name was Cormac McLaggen. His girlfriend's name was Cara Potter and the younger boy next to her was revealed to in fact be her younger brother, Charles Potter.

"So, uh, how are you finding the campus?" Alex asked in an attempt for start a conversation.

"Good, good," Cara Potter replied. "It's, uh, different than what we're accustomed to."

"Yeah, I read that Hogwarts is a castle, so this must be a big change."

"Haven't quite gotten used to navigating the place," the ginger Witch confessed.

"It's pretty easy once you know the basics," Marcia jumped in. "The central building is attached to the Dining Hall. The two wings that those doors over there lead to," she said motioning to the sides of the room that were nearest the staff table, "are where the teacher's offices are. On the first floor only, anyway. The upper floors are where the living quarters for the ones for live here are; students can't go above the first floor in either of those wings. The center area of the building, which is only attached to the wings on the first floor, is where all of the general campus stuff is; nurse's office, the administrative offices, the headmaster's office, meeting rooms, the student government's office. You get the idea.

"There are two dorm buildings on either side of the central building, one for girls and one for boys. They extend out a ways to form two of the sides of the courtyard. On the other side of the courtyard is the main instruction building where most of the cases are held. Quodpot field is off behind the boy's dormitories and the greenhouses are off behind the girl's. The gatehouse, which is only part of the island anyone can portkey in and out of or Apparate to or Disapparate from, is on the far western edge of the island. I think that's all the important stuff."

"That's . . . That's great," Cara said in response, clearly having not followed the quickly rattled-off explanation.

"You forgot the library," Alex pointed out.

"Oh, how silly of me," Marcia said with an embarrassed giggle. "The library is on the other side of the instructional building. It's the exact opposite spot as this room."

There was another minute of awkwardness in which several attempt to start a conversation were attempted. The attempts failed, until the oldest of the Hogwarts students decided to ask a question.

"I've been wondering, what's the deal here?" McLaggen asked the group, gesturing towards what the three New England students were wearing. "You blokes don't wear uniforms?"

Eric laughed, almost choking on a mouthful of bread. He had to take a drink of water before answering. "No, not anymore. We have Alex over there to thank for that."

"What?" the male Gryffindor asked in surprise.

"Alex is the Student Body President. He was elected at the end of our third year after staging a pretty successful protest against school uniforms. The next year, as president, he petitioned the Board of Trustees to abolish the uniform rule," Marcia explained.

"Wow!" Charles Potter said in excitement. "A protest? That sounds so cool."

"I have relatives that did some stuff like that in the sixties. I was just trying to live up to their example," Alex stated in a very blasé way. "It was going to happen eventually; I just got the ball rolling."

"Is that also why not everyone lives on campus?" Hermione Granger queried. "Because of a protest?"

"No," the Cullen Wizard answered with a shake of the head. "That has to do with the Untrained Crisis."

"The what?" the Gryffindor Witch asked.

"Maybe Eric should explain; his family had a front-row seat for it," the sixth-year New England Wizard said as he turned his attention to his seventh-year friend.

"I guess that's true," Eric said thoughtfully. "My granddad was the Secretary of Magic at the time, so I've heard a lot about it. It was when there was a movement among the parents of Muggleborn and Half-Blood Witches and Wizards to not send their kids to school. It wasn't that they didn't want them to know magic; they just didn't want them to live at a boarding school.

"It got pretty bad. There were loads of Witches and Wizards who knew about magic but never went to school. Since they were never expelled, they were allowed to carry wands. They just waited until they turned seventeen so the underage laws wouldn't apply, bought wands, and then started casting spells. The Secrecy Statute was being broken left and right and the Department of Magical Affairs had its hands full reversing spells that untrained people cast but couldn't undo. All of the damage caused by people not knowing what they were doing is why it was caused the 'Untrained Crisis.'

"Finally, my granddad had to bring together a group of teachers and parents to talk about how to improve the school so that the Muggleborns and Half-bloods would attend. That is what started the Parent-Teachers Association. They made a load of suggestions.

"In the end, the school was totally re-done; one of the big changes was that someone from the Division of Magical Transportation now works here to help students commute, like Alex. Those meetings are also why our buildings are so new. It used to be that there were just three big lighthouses that served as dorms and a bunch of underground rooms that were used for classes. They're still there, but we don't use them anymore."

The bucktoothed witch was wide-eyed. "Fascinating."

Draco Malfoy quietly watched the exchange between the students. A small bit of black and pewter on Alex Cullen's wrist caught his eye, so he decided to ask about it.

"Oh, this?" the only mortal Cullen replied when Malfoy asked him about the thick band of leather. He unbuttoned his sleeve to reveal a black wrist cuff with a pewter crest attached to it. "It's the Cullen family crest."

"I've never heard of the Cullen family before," the gray-eyed Wizard said as he examined the crest as best he could at that distance. All he could make out was a lion under an open-palmed hand. Beneath the lion was what appeared to be a banner adorned with three clubs.

It was surprising; Draco thought he'd heard of every family old enough to have a real crest.

"Well, we've heard about a couple of your families before," Eric said smugly. "Strange bedfellows; a Malfoy and the Boy-Who-Lived's less famous siblings."

Charles Potter blushed bright red at the reference to his brother; his blush was almost as bright as his hair. Alex felt a great amount of sympathy for the boy and so reached around Marcia's back and smacked Eric on the back of his head.

"Hey!" the Weathercrest boy shouted indignantly, drawing the attention of students sitting at several of the tables around him.

The black and red clad Witch smacked her boyfriend playfully on the chest. "Jerk. You shouldn't have said it like that."

"Have some manners," the younger New England Wizard scolded his friend.

The athletic boy grumbled an apology before deciding to focus on his cheesecake.

"It's okay," Cara Potter said. "We get it all the time." Her tone made it clear that she didn't really think it was okay; she sounded pretty irritated, in fact.

After a few more failed attempts at starting a conversation for the whole table, the New England trio silently decided to split their efforts up once they finished eating.

Marcia and Hermione, both of whom seemed to be quite the brains, started discussing the differences in how the British Ministry of Magic did things and how the American Department of Magical Affairs did them. After a little prodding by Alex, Eric moved his chair next to McLaggen's and engaged him in a lively debate of Quodpot versus Quidditch. Given that Draco Malfoy did seem to be all that interested in talking to anyone anymore, Alex decided to try and make conversation with the Potters.

Alexander moved his chair to sit in the aisle next to the two siblings. "It must be nice to be able to go to school with your family. I'm the only Wizard out of six kids; I'd love to go to the same school as my brothers and sisters."

"It's great, most of the time," Charles said. "But sometimes it's weird because the three of us are in different houses."

"Right," Alex said. "I'm pretty sure I saw you brother earlier and he's in Gryffindor, right?"

"Yes," Cara answered. "He and Cormac are in the same year."

"That must suck," Alex laughed. At the frown that marred the Witch's face, he quickly added, "That your brother and boyfriend share a dorm room, that is."

The Potter girl smiled. "Not the most convenient thing. When we first started going steady, Jonathan was hounding Cormac all the time."

"I can only imagine what it would be like if I met someone I liked and brought them home. All five of my older siblings giving someone the third degree," the Cullen shivered.

"So you're the youngest, like me?" Charles said brightly.

"I suppose I am," Alex smiled, glad to have finally found some common ground with a couple of the visiting students.

A/N: Lots of notes this chapter.

Dates and Ages: References to the past will generally be given with a reference to an age of a character rather than a date (e.g., "When Alex was twelve . . ."). For those who really want to know, assume that the "Twilight" vampires to have been born and turned on their canon dates, the "Twilight" timeline is shifted four years later ("Twilight" starting January 2009 rather than January 2005), and the main "Harry Potter" cast were born twelve years later than in canon (Alex was born in 1992 rather than 1980 and is sixteen in the "present" of fall 2008).

Major Past Events: It should be noted that most major events that occurred at Hogwarts in canon were set in motion without regard to Harry Potter's presence and will, therefore, have occurred at the normal relative point in the timeline. So, because Lucius Malfoy sent the Riddle diary to Hogwarts to discredit Arthur Weasley through his daughter and not because of anything to do with the BWL, those events happened when they did in canon: during what would have been Alex's second year. However, just because they happened when they did in canon doesn't mean that they happened how they did in canon. In other words, different BWL, different outcomes. The last Triwizard Tournament is a special case in terms of timing and has a specific story-related reason for being held in Jonathan's fourth year rather than Alex's fourth year of schooling; it will be explained later.

The Name Game: Jonathan Potter was named for Remus John Lupin. Cara Potter was named for Sirius Orion Black (Cara being a Gaelic name that is also one of the stars in the Orion constellation). I know that Sirius has no established middle name in canon, but I've opted to give him his father's first name as his middle name in the same way Harry Potter has his father's first name (James) as his middle one in canon. There will be an in-story explanation of all of the Potter children's names much, much later.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of the story. Reviews and constructive criticism are always appreciated.


	6. Chapter 6

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 6: Five: Rules**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Five – Rules**

Alexander was only half awake when he came upstairs at half past ten on Saturday morning. He ran a hand through his curly hair, yawned, and rubbed the last remnants of sleep from his eyes before putting his shaded glasses back on his face.

"Long night?" Alice asked once her brother entered the great room.

The youngest of the Cullens was so tired by the time he finally got home the night before, that the vampires hadn't even bothered trying to get details about the Welcome Dinner out of him.

The mortal boy flopped down next to his sister before answering. "I think trying to help people find their rooms all yesterday afternoon was the real tiring thing. The dinner went by pretty fast, once we got past the uncomfortable part where no one knew what to talk about." He looked about the room for a moment and, after noticing that Alice appeared to be the only other Cullen around, decided to ask, "Where is everyone today?"

"The usual," Alice answered. "Emmett, Jasper, and Edward are out hunting, Esme went to pick up a few things at the market, and Carlisle had some work to do at the hospital."

"On a Saturday?"

"They just installed some new equipment at the hospital and he wants to be on hand in case anymore messes up trying to use it for the first time."

"Oh," was Alex's only reaction. "So, what about Rosalie?"

"She's out shopping in Port Angeles."

"And you didn't go with her?" the boy asked incredulously. He didn't need to wait for her answer. "Oh, that's right, can't let the fragile human be totally on his own. I mean, I came home early one day earlier in the week when no one was supposed to be around, so it's not like we want to tempt fate or anything."

"You know it isn't like that," the seer soothed.

"It is, and you know it. Mom is always so worried that I get hurt . . ."

"Look at it from her point of view," Alice pleaded.

"I have," Alex said in frustration. "And I'm always careful. I don't do anything that could cause so much as a paper cut around here." He stood up before storming towards the garage.

"Where are you going?"

"For a walk."

"You know-" Alice started, only to be cut off by her brother.

"I know," Alex snapped. "Don't stray too close to town, don't cross the border into La Push, and I have my cell. I know the rules."

Alice knew better than to follow after her little brother. Giving him the basement room was a big step towards providing him with a little bit of independence, but his entire life have been spent in quiet restraint. At times like these, it was best to just let him be alone for a while.

Alexander hadn't been allowed to play outside of Esme and Carlisle's sight during his childhood for fear that he might skin his knee. Baby teeth had to be removed by Carlisle or a dentist as soon as they became loose and the entire house had to be cleared out until the bleeding stopped. His participation in the Cub Scouts had been extremely limited for a variety of reasons.

There was a rule and a procedure in place for every possible situation. It was suffocating, but it was also necessary for Alex's safety as a child living amongst a large group of vampires who could kill him as easily as he might crumple a sheet of paper. And although he'd eventually adjusted the rules fairly well, there was a time when his older siblings would joke that his name might as well be 'no Alex, no' because of how often the phrase was used.

For taking walks around the area, Alex had to follow three main rules.

First, he could never cross the border into the La Push Reservation. A very old treaty from before Alice and Jasper were even members of the coven forbade any member of the Cullen coven from crossing the border. Although Alex was a mortal and probably exempt from that rule, no member of his family would be able to come to his aid without risking the treaty if he got into trouble. Not to mention the fact that another part of the treaty forbade the Cullen coven from creating new vampires. The residents of La Push would likely treat Alex with great suspicion and would undoubtedly accuse the coven of planning a breach. Which, of course, they were.

The second rule also related to where Alex could travel. Because no one in Forks was allowed for see him for fear of difficult questions regarding his schooling being asked, he couldn't stray near the town. So he wasn't allowed to head towards any area that was frequently traveled by any of the local hikers. When combined with the first rule, he was essentially confined to the family's property. If it weren't for the fact that the property was huge, the boy would probably go crazy.

The third and final main rule was the cell phone rule. Alex couldn't leave the house by himself without his cell phone. If he was injured, no matter how slight, he had to call Carlisle so that the injury could be assessed and treated and then any additional steps necessary to keep him safe—such as having any member of the family without unshakable resistance to the scent of human blood leave until the wound could be totally healed, either by Muggle or magical means—could be taken.

Alexander walked at a brisk pace for a good twenty minutes until he was within sight of the farthest edge of the family's property. Once there, he stopped and sat down under a tree. He was breathing a bit heavily from the fast-paced walk, but it felt so very nice to be away from the house that he just didn't care.

The mortal loved this spot; he often thought of the old cypress tree as his personal property. It was where he went whenever he needed to think and wanted to be alone with his thoughts. Away from Jasper's empathy, Edward's mind-reading, and everyone's ability to read the emotions and thoughts that lurked behind every little move he made. Even a minor change in his heartbeat would not go noticed by his family.

Although he needed space every now and then, Alexander Cullen wouldn't trade his life for anything. He loved his family. He loved them more than anything in the world and the thought of being separated from them was unbearable. If he hadn't had the option of commuting to and from school, he would never have gone to the New England Academy of Magic. Then he'd almost dropped out before the end of his first month there because the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor said something nasty about vampires.

Where many adopted kids dreamed of being found by their natural parents, Alexander had had nightmares about it for weeks after he first learned that he was adopted. They were terrible dreams about being snatched from his mother in the dead of night.

After a few minutes of just enjoying the solitude, Alex's senses alerted him to the fact that he wasn't as alone as he thought he was. At least, not anymore. He could hear the sounds of twigs breaking and tree leaves being rattled as someone made their way towards him from the other side of his tree.

The dark-haired boy cursed under his breath. Who in the world was hiking on his family's property?

Alex peeked around the tree he had been leaning up against and watched for the newcomer. It surprised him, though he didn't know why, when he was that the sound was nothing more than a hiker.

The hiker was a boy around Alex's age, maybe a bit younger. He had dark russet-toned skin and was a good four or five inches shorter than Alex. The boy's long, glossy black hair was pulled into a ponytail that went just past the top of his shoulders. The boy had a slight build and a lightly rounded chin. It Alex were to guess, he'd put his age at fourteen.

Unlike Alex, who was wearing a pair of tennis shoes and the regular clothes he'd intended to lounge about the house in, the hiker was dressed like a pro. He had hiking boots on, was wearing a weather-resistant jacket, and had a pack on his back.

As he took a step through some of the thick foliage, the hiker caught sight of Alex looking at him from around the tree. The hiker jerked in surprise, almost falling backwards.

The Cullen boy laughed softly at the younger boy's near-accident before standing up and coming around the tree. "Sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean to startle you. Actually, I was a little startled myself when I heard you coming."

The other boy stared at Alexander for a moment before saying anything. "I 'spose I should say sorry too then, if I started you."

"No harm, no foul," the Wizard said with a shrug.

"I'm not used to seeing anyone else around here," the hiker said. "I'm Jacob. Jacob Black," he added awkwardly as he moved forward to shake Alex's hand.

"Alex," the older teen said as he shook Jacob's hand. He intentionally left off his last name.

"So, uh, what are you doing out here by yourself?"

"Same as you, I guess. Wanted to go for hike, get away from things for a little while," Alex answered.

"Yeah," Jacob agreed. "You didn't bring any gear, so you know the area pretty well, right?"

Alex silently cursed once more. How was he to answer that question? It was bad enough that he'd actually run into somebody who was almost definitely from the La Push Reservation, but the problem would be compounded a hundred fold if he revealed himself as a Cullen. So he couldn't admit to being part of the family that owned the property. He had to use some other excuse.

"I've been hiking around here several times before. My family used to live in Forks a long time ago."

"Oh, visiting the area then?"

"My father has some business in town, so I decided to go exploring a bit. See if everything's still the same. I just couldn't stand waiting around for him anymore," the shorter-haired boy lied.

"So you have some free time," Jacob said with a warm smile.

"I guess," Alex answered a bit uncertainly.

"You want to hang out a bit? I wouldn't mind having a hiking partner."

Every rational part of Alexander Cullen's mind told him that he should say no. He should refuse, make an excuse about having to meet his father soon, and then leave. But for some reason he heard himself agreeing and, the next thing he knew, he and Jacob were walking side-by-side through the dense woods.

They hiked together for the better part of an hour. Jacob talked almost nonstop the entire time. He told Alex about living on the Reservation—or 'the Rez,' as the teen called it—and complained about school. In the course of the conversation he revealed that was, in fact, fourteen years old.

Alex was able to add a bit to the conversation here and there when he was able to relate to Jacob's complaints about irritating teachers and stupid school activities, but he mostly just listened. It was nice, having the opportunity to talk to someone who wasn't a classmate of family.

After about an hour, however, Alex decided that he had broken the rules long enough. He needed to return home.

"I better be going; my dad is going to be finishing up soon and will freak if he can't find me."

"Oh," Jacob said, clearly disappointed that his new friend was leaving. "You want me to walk you back to town?"

"No," Alex said almost too quickly. "I mean, I can find my way. It's bound to be out of your way. There's no need for you to waste the rest of your day on me."

Jacob still seemed a little disappointed. It was strange, in Alex's opinion; Jacob was under the impression that he was an out-of-towner, so he had to know that any friendship they'd struck up in the last hour was going to be short-lived.

"Do you have a pen or something?" the older teen asked after thinking it over for a minute.

Jacob's brow furrowed before he reached into his pack to fish one out. After he handed it to Alex, the Cullen boy took the Quileute boy's hand in his own, forced the palm open, and then started to write.

"This is my cell number. Give me a call if you ever want to chat or something."

The younger teen smiled brightly at his new friend. After walking together for a few more minutes, they split up to go their separate directions.

Alex hadn't been walking by himself for more than a minute when he was startled by the voice of one of his adoptive brothers.

"You've been reckless today, Alex," Edward Hale said from up in a tree.

"How long have you been watching?"

"Long enough," the vampire replied before leaping down to the ground, landing effortlessly not a foot in front of Alexander. "You should have made an excuse to leave him a long time ago," he scolded.

"He had no idea who I am," Alex replied as though it was a defense Edward would accept.

"He shouldn't have been on our land in the first place."

Alex ran his fingers through his black hair and let out a frustrated sound from deep in his throat. "You think I don't know that? But what was I supposed to do? If I pointed out that he shouldn't be there, he would have just said that I shouldn't have been there either. Or he might have figured out that I'm a Cullen. This way, I'm just some guy he met in the woods; without my last name, no one else on the Reservation will figure it out."

"There was no need for you to have to spend so much time with him. You could have come up with an acceptable excuse to leave him long ago," Edward said unemotionally.

"Maybe I wanted to talk to him. Maybe I wanted to have a friend outside of the family and outside of school for a change," Alex argued back.

"Alex," the bronze-haired vampire said as he placed his hands on the mortal's shoulders, "you need to understand that if you decide to become a vampire, you won't be able to have friend like that. Every person around you will be a potential risk. If any of them find out-"

"I know!" Alex shouted, trying to pull away from Edward.

"Do you?"

The Wizard began to take deep breaths through his nose; he knew that his adoptive brother wouldn't release him until after he calmed down.

"I'm sorry," Alex said quietly, looking down at his feet. "I didn't mean anything bad by it. I just met him and he was nice is all."

Edward Hale lifted his right hand from Alexander's shoulder and stroked the side of the younger boy's face. "I know. And I'm sorry if you felt that I was attacking your actions. I understand that many things in this life are hard for you, but the rules that Carlisle and Esme have put into place are for your protection. I-_We_ all love you so very much, that none of us would survive it if something happened to you."

Alexander bent his left arm up so that his left hand could rest on top of the hand on his cheek.

"It will get easier, Alex. I promise you. After you finish school . . ." the immortal trailed off.

"After I finish school," the green-eyed boy repeated as his mind wandered to his transformation.

Edward removed his hand and stood alongside Alex. "We should go home; you are quite late for lunch."

"Speaking of lunch, what are you doing back so early? Your hunting trips usually take a lot longer."

Edward smiled. "We were all a bit anxious to hear about the students from the other schools. You've never met foreign Wizards before, and neither have we. Unless one of the people that Carlisle's mortal father put to death all those years ago actually was one."

"They're okay," Alex said with shrug. He knew that Edward would know about everyone he'd met once they came to mind, but he liked to talk aloud to the vampire. "I had an odd group at my table. There was this one guy, Draco Malfoy, who kept acting like someone was going to jump out from under one of the tables and _Avada Kedavra_ him right then and there."

"He sounds like the life of the party," the mind-reader said dryly.

"Other than saying he'd never heard of my family, he didn't say much at all. Eric said that he'd heard of the Malfoy family, so I'll have to remember to ask him about it later."

"And the other others?" Edward asked.

"Well, there was this real bookish one that got along pretty well with Marcia and a real Quidditch fan who seems to be starting a frenemy sort of relationship with Eric," Alex explained.

"'Frenemy'?"

"Friendly enemy. Kinda like a friend you compete with all the time. Like if Cirilla and I were friends but were still antagonistic to each other."

"An interesting portmanteau."

"Ummm . . ." the younger of the two began. "I'll take your word for it." Clearly, he didn't know the word 'portmanteau.'

"Anyway, I mostly hung out with Cara and Charles Potter."

"Potter?" Edward asked, his interest piqued. "Any relation to Jonathan Potter?"

"His younger siblings."

"While I certainly don't wish to make it a habit to discourage you from making friends while you're still mortal, I would ask you to be careful. The Boy-Who-Lived attracts trouble, from what you've told me."

"That's not fair," Alex groused with a weary shake of his head.

"Life isn't fair, it simply is. And I didn't say 'don't be friends.' I said, 'be careful.'"

"I'm always careful," the teen mumbled. Before continuing to tell Edward about the Welcome Dinner.

By the time the duo reached the Cullen house, Esme had lunch prepared and was anxiously awaiting the return of her youngest.

"I was just about to call you," the vampire mother said as she hugged her mortal son and kissed him on the cheek.

"Nothing to worry about," Alex said, his voice not revealing the dread he had about Edward telling his parents about his decision to befriend Jacob Black.

"Nothing to worry about at all," Edward said as he laid a hand on Alex's shoulder. It was a silent way of him telling the Wizard that he'd keep his secret so long as nothing dangerous came of it. He'd readily risk Esme's ire for Alexander's happiness.

After washing up for lunch, the Wizard took a moment to apologize to Alice for snapping at her earlier. She readily accepted the apology, but did make Alexander promise to allow her to pick out a number of outfits for him over the next several weeks to make it up to her.

Alex grumbled about his sister milking the situation all through lunch.

After lunch, Alex told his family all about Welcome Dinner. He spent a great deal of time describing the many levels of irritation Professor Reynolds displayed over the way a number of the New England students dressed.

"He's probably already sent a letter to the Board of Trustees describing it as an international incident," Alex joked.

"Hopefully he won't make any headway with them," Rosalie said with a shake of her head.

"If he does, Alex can organize another protest," Emmett added before lightly punching Alex on the arm and letting out one of his booming laughs.

"Oh, not another one. It was the first time your father and I ever received a howler and we want it to remain the last time."

Alex turned to Edward. "Remember how much she yelled when she found out that you were the one that decided to tell me about the sixties?"

"I do," Edward answered sullenly. "She actually ordered me not to tell you any stories about my life set during that entire decade."

Everyone got a good chuckle out of that. Except for Jasper. Although he smiled every now and then, he remained as tightly controlled as ever.

After talking for a bit longer, the various residents of the Cullen house split up to do their own things for the rest of the day. Esme went about preparing dinner while looking over a set of architectural plans she'd been working on, Alice quietly pulled Jasper into their room for some alone time, Emmett began to surf through the television channels, Edward seated himself at his piano, and Rosalie read a book. Carlisle was still at work and Alex was undecided as to what exactly he wanted to devote the rest of his day to.

As he watched everyone else go about their business, his eyes fell on Edward. Alexander had a moment of inspiration and rushed down to his room, returning a minute later with his violin.

"Would you mind a duet?" he asked Edward.

The Chicago native smirked, "You sure you still remember how to play? It's been quite some time."

I think I remember a thing or two, Alex replied as he rested the instrument below his chin.

Despite its rocky start, the rest of the day seemed absolutely perfect to the boy.

A/N: For those of you who are familiar with Jacob Black from other stories but aren't very familiar with "Twilight" in general, you may be confused about his appearance. Most stories start after he has hit his growth spurt that occurs in "New Moon." This story starts the fall before the start of "Twilight," so Jacob's appearance is accurate for the time period.


	7. Chapter 7

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 7: Six: The Champions**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Six – The Champions**

Alexander Cullen and his classmate, Marcia Johnston, were sitting on the front steps of the central building of the New England campus. They were people watching.

"How can the Beauxbatons students stand wearing such light clothes?" the Witch asked the Wizard.

"It was probably much worse at Hogwarts. I don't know exactly where it is, being unplottable and all, but it's supposed to be somewhere in Scotland. I bet it was freezing."

"It would have been worse if they had hosted it at Durmstrang. I heard one of the Fufflerpuffs mention that those students showed up in heavy fur cloaks."

Alexander chuckled before correcting his friend. "_Hufflepuffs_."

"Whatever. Why do I need to know what house their in?" she questioned. "I see black robes, I know they're a Hogwarts student."

"It makes for easier stereotyping. It's gotten to the point that I can usually predict the question I'm going to be asked every time a Hogwarts student stops me in the hall with pretty good accuracy. The Hufflepuffs ask about the kitchen, the Gryffindors ask if I would support their request to set up a Quidditch field, and the Ravenclaws ask for the directions to the library. The only wild cards seem to be the Slytherins."

"They're green, right?"

"Yes," Alex answered as he stood up. "They are supposed to be the cunning ones."

Marcia followed Alex's lead and stood up. "I'm starting to hate coming to school. It's just so crowded now."

It was Monday. By dinner time, the three champions who would compete in the Triwizard Tournament would be announced. Although the visiting students seemed to have finished settling in, things were still very congested. There were just too many students and not enough island.

"What do you think about field trips?" Alex asked.

"What, like to a museum or something?"

The Cullen boy shrugged. "Not sure. Just something to get people off of this island every now and then. Things are okay right now because it's still a new environment, but in a few weeks, everyone is going to start to go stir crazy. We get to leave to go home at the end of the day, but all of the Hogwarts students and the Beauxbatons students are just stuck here. I was thinking about seeing if we could set up some trips to different areas of the country. Maybe a day in New York, another in Chicago. Let them get the opportunity to actually see some of the country that they are visiting."

"Sounds like it would be a real pain to plan. I mean, aren't they gonna need chaperones?" the Witch asked.

"I'm just starting to put the idea together," Alexander defended. "But I need to think of something before we start having problems. This many teenagers in this small of a space is going to cause problems."

"Did I ever tell you that you're my favorite problem-solver?"

"No," the teenaged boy replied. "But then again, you're dating Eric, so I figured there was a decent chance that I was the only problem-solver you know," he said cheekily. "See you in History of Magic?"

"Unless I can fake an ulcer beforehand," she answered before they split up, Marcia heading towards the library and Alexander heading into the central building.

Like every other place on campus, the administrative building was cluttered with students who had nowhere better to loiter. Fortunately, they stuck to the first floor. As Alexander climbed the stairs to the third floor, he passed by fewer and fewer students until he was alone. That is, until he was actually on the third floor.

Sitting halfway down the hall from the stairwell was a small boy in a Hogwarts uniform. He was curled into himself with his face hidden under the arms he had folded on his knees. The Wizard's robes had Hufflepuff colors on them and he had red hair; Alexander quickly identified him as Charles Potter, the third-year who'd sat at his table during the Welcome Dinner.

As the older Wizard approached the boy, he could hear his quiet sobs.

In order to not startle the redhead, Alex made sure his footfalls were audible as he neared. Once Charles heard him coming, he sat up straight and began to furiously rub at his eyes with the back of his sleeve in an attempt to dry his tears.

Alex didn't miss a beat moving next to the boy, leaning against the wall, and sliding down so that he was sitting directly to Charles Potter's left. "What's wrong?" he asked softly.

"N-Nothing," Charles stuttered in response.

"I see. It must be a pretty bad nothing to cause all of this," Alex said before producing his wand from his book bag. He moved the wand in a circular motion near Charles's face, banishing the remaining tears away.

Charles brought his hand up to feel at his now-dry face. With both arms now removed from his knees, Alexander was able to see where the boy's pant leg was torn at his right knee, revealing a gash that was covered in still-drying blood. Alexander frowned deeply at the sight.

"Who did that?" he asked in a low, angry tone.

"No one," Charles answered quickly. It was an obvious lie.

"If the next words out of your mouth are 'I fell,' I swear I'll drag you to Dumbledore myself."

The redhead remained silent, probably hoping that the New England student would let the matter drop if he said nothing at all.

Seeing that he wasn't getting anywhere, Alexander picked a different tactic. "I'll make you a deal: you tell me what happened, and I won't involve any of professors. So long as it isn't anything serious." While he let the boy think the proposition over, he banished the blood, healed the gash, and mended Charles's pant let with a few quick spells.

"Wow," Charles said softly as he watched Alexander work. His voice was still a little choked. "You're really good at that."

"No changing the subject; it's me or Dumbledore."

"It wasn't anything major," the Hufflepuff protested.

Alex put his wand away and crossed his arms over his chest. "If it isn't anything major, then you should have no problem telling me."

"Why should I tell you? You're not even from my school."

"What school you go to doesn't mean anything to me, Charles."

The thirteen-year-old seemed like he was going to bull up for a moment, but relented. "I got into a fight with some of my classmates."

"A fight?"

"Yes. They were being prats."

"I'll assume a 'prat' is like a jerk," Alexander mused. "What were they doing?"

Charles muttered something unintelligible in response.

"What was that?"

"They said my brother was going to die, okay!" Charles snapped. Once the words were out of his mouth, his eyes began to tear up again.

"What?"

"They said that he was going to put his name in the Goblet of Fire again. And that he would die in the Tournament this time. They said he was supposed to die last time but Wood died instead," the boy said miserably. "But he signed the contract; his name shouldn't come out! And they were wrong, he didn't put his name in last time at all!"

It seemed like there was something else Charles wanted to say, but he stopped himself.

"But?" the Cullen boy prodded.

"His name wasn't supposed to come out of it last time; he was underage. But it did. And he got hurt; he _almost_ died. My mum made him sign the contract . . ." he trailed off quietly.

"But you're afraid for your brother," Alex concluded.

"I shouldn't be. I should be brave like him. Jonathan isn't afraid of anything."

"That's not true. Everyone is afraid sometimes. Even Gryffindors."

Charles shook his head back and forth. "I bet you wouldn't be afraid if it was your brother."

"If it was one of my brothers who was in danger, I would probably be paralyzed with fear. I wouldn't be able to function at all."

"You're lying," the Hufflepuff said defiantly.

"Can I let you in on a secret?" Alex asked his companion. Once Charles nodded his head, the older teen continued. "I was so afraid of this Tournament that I quit school."

"What?" Charles asked, his voice becoming much higher and his eyes bulging in surprise.

"I tell everyone that I quit school when they announced that we would be hosting the Triwizard Tournament because of how irresponsible the decision was. And that's true, but at the heart of the issue is that I was afraid I would be like your brother was three years ago: someone forced to compete in a dangerous competition against his will.

"My family has always been very protective of me. I've never been in real danger. They never let me do anything that they thought might get me hurt, even a little. Eventually, that overprotectiveness became second nature. _I_ became so afraid of getting hurt that I just started to avoid everything that might cause it. I haven't been on a broom since flying lessons in my first year."

"No way!" Charles exclaimed.

"It's true. I loved to fly, but I was so afraid that I'd fall off and get hurt. Even though there is a healer on staff who would fix any injury I might get from crashing and my family might never have to know, I still don't fly. Or duel. Or play any sports, really.

"I only agreed to come back to school because they instituted the binding magical contracts as a safety measure."

"But how do you know it will work?" the ginger-haired boy questioned uncertainly.

Alex smiled. "I came up with the idea. And it was reviewed by our best teachers and by the Aurors. Trust me, the contract will make sure we don't have any unwilling participants."

"So, if my brother signed the contract, I don't have to worry about his name coming out of the Goblet?"

"Even if his name came out of the Goblet of Fire a hundred times, the earlier contract is supreme," the sixteen-year-old assured him. "If he signed his name on the contract, then he's not participating."

Charles smiled. "Good thing my mum's so strict then. Not that he wanted to participate anyway."

Alex stood up and offered his hand to the younger boy. Charles took it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

"So tell me, is there anywhere in the United States that you've been wanting to visit?"

The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully. Charles, who it turned out was quite interested in Muggles because his mother was Muggleborn, had a very large list of places he wanted to visit. From the nation's capital to Mount Rushmore—"I can't believe it was carved without magic!"—he wanted to visit just about every place of note. After making a few notes about places the boy wanted to visit, Alexander was off to his afternoon classes.

When dinnertime at New England rolled around, Alex was a bit anxious to get home. He'd usually gone back to Forks around six o'clock Eastern Time, but had to stay until after the names were drawn out of the Goblet of Fire. Fortunately, as a concession to the students who commuted, Headmaster Justinius had timed the lighting of the Goblet of Fire on Friday evening so that the thirty-six hour time limit that he'd imposed on the magical artifact would expire at the start of dinner on Monday rather than the end.

Alexander wasn't sitting with all of the same people that he'd sat with at the Welcome Dinner. Instead, he sat at the table nearest the doors so that he could leave as soon as the names had been drawn out of the Goblet. He was, however, still sitting with Marcia and Eric.

Waiting for the names of the champions to be drawn was boring. After a few minutes of waiting, Alexander had actually resorted to playing with his glasses. The boy had been notorious as a child for losing his glasses. The family would have had to pay a small fortune in replacement fees if it weren't for the impeccable memories of his vampire relatives. He'd originally stuck to plain, round-framed glasses. After starting school at the New England Academy, however, he'd moved to a series of pairs that had dark, stylish frames—picked out by Alice—and tinted lenses.

The tinting was important to Alex, particularly in his early years at the Academy, because he'd spent so many years living in very dark towns. Vampire skin glitters in the sunlight, so the coven had to live in towns with very little sunlight. It was a hard adjustment when Alex first starting going to the Academy because every classroom was lit with natural light that would stream in through massive windows. It wasn't as though he was sensitive to the light; he was just unused to so much of it. The glasses made things feel a bit familiar and eased the homesickness that then-eleven-year-old, who had never been so far from his family, had felt during school days. After a while, the dark glasses became something of a trademark look for the Wizard.

Reynolds had tried to force him to stop wearing them at one point, but failed. Having a father who could write a doctor's note was very handy. All Reynolds did was make Alexander more determined than ever to wear the shaded lenses.

Amidst the crowd of several hundred students, Alex was eventually able to spot Charles Potter sitting with both of his siblings and their significant others. The red-haired boy waved to Alex exuberantly when they spotted one another, capturing the attention of his brother and sister as well as a number of students sitting near them.

Curiously enough, Draco Malfoy was once again sitting with the Potters. It was very strange considering the fact that anyone with eyes could see that he clearly didn't like their company and wanted to be sitting elsewhere. Of course, with the way he continued to look about nervously, it was questionable _if_ he could safely sit anywhere else.

"Hey Eric," Alex caught his friend's attention as he returned his glasses to the bridge of his nose. "You mentioned knowing the name 'Malfoy' the other day. Care to share some of the Pureblood gossip?"

Eric Weathercrest chuckled. "Pureblood gossip is right. The Malfoys are one of the wealthiest families in Britain. They are also one of the most controversial."

"Controversial?" Alex asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Eric confirmed. "The dad is some big wig at the British Ministry of Magic. He served the Dark Lord during his first reign of terror or whatever you want to call it. Claimed it was because of the Imperious Curse, though. Anyway, when the Dark Lord supposedly came back at the end of the last Tournament, Jonathan Potter fingered the guy as a loyal servant."

"Death Eater," Marcia added helpfully, though she was only half paying attention to the conversation.

"So what happened?" Alex prodded.

"He denied it and Minister Fudge wouldn't hear another word against him. Dumbledore still harps on it and Jonathan has made a bunch of statements about it over the last two years. Some of them even got printed. That's why all of the Purebloods assume that Malfoy really is a Death Eater."

"What do you mean?" the Cullen boy asked in confusion.

"Well, anyone of Malfoy's station would sue Potter if he said something that bad about them, right? For libel and stuff."

"Slander, Eric. Slander is spoken, libel is printed. Potter would be sued for slander for saying the words and the papers would be sued for libel if they printed them as a fact," the Witch added again.

"Whatever," the Quodpot player said in frustration. "The point is that he didn't do anything. Why? Because if he did, the Potters would use truth as their defense; they'd claim that Malfoy was a loyal Death Eater. Once truth was an issue in the case, the Potters could use memories and truth serum and stuff to prove their case. My mom and all of her friends say that that pretty well confirms what they already suspected about him."

"That's really interesting," Alex said almost to himself. "But why would a Death Eater's son be hanging around the Potters?"

"Now _that_ is interesting," Eric said with a sly smile.

"You know what I find interesting?" Marcia asked the boys. "That you two are sitting her gossiping like a couple of old ladies instead of focusing on the Tournament. Aren't you the least bit curious as to whose name will come out of the Goblet?"

Before either boy could reply, the large clock tower atop the central building struck seven o'clock. A hush fell over the crowd of students and staff members that had assembled in the dining hall as the Goblet, which was still sitting in front of the staff table, became very active.

Headmaster Justinius approached the Goblet of Fire just as it shot out a jet of fire. The flame shot into the air for a moment before disappearing, leaving only a singed piece of paper to float down into the Wizard's outstretched hand.

After catching the scrap in his hand, the headmaster shouted, "The champion from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic is . . . Matthieu Moreau."

The hall erupted in cheers as everyone searched for the champion. A boy in a blue uniform got up from one of the seats on the far left of the room. He was standing too far away for Alexander to really make him out, but he was able to tell that the champion had a much deeper tan than most of his schoolmates and short brown hair.

After speaking momentarily with Headmaster Justinius, the Beauxbatons student was ushered out of the Dining Hall through one of the doors that led to the central building proper.

No sooner had the Beauxbatons student left than a second name was called.

"The Hogwarts champion is . . . Katie Bell!"

For a second time, the hall erupted in applause. Alexander searched the room for the second champion and was surprised to find that it was Jonathan Potter's dark-haired girlfriend. She was a bundle of energy as she made her way up to the staff table.

A few feet before she reached the headmaster, Katie Bell turned around and shouted to the crowd, "Can I get a Gryffindor Roar!"

From various corners of the room, students in red-trimmed robes gave loud roars in support of their champion.

Once Katie Bell left the room, the headmaster called out one final name.

"And the champion who will represent the New England Academy of Magic is . . . Eric Weathercrest!"

Eric jumped up and pumped his fist in the air once before kissing Marcia on the cheek. He then slapped hands with Alex before sprinted to the front of the room, shouting and generally making a spectacle of himself the entire way.

Marcia didn't look happy that he'd been chosen. In fact, she looked downright pissed.

"He didn't tell you that he entered, did he?" Alex asked.

"No," she said darkly. "He didn't. And I, like an idiot, didn't think to ask. For some odd reason, I just assumed that he'd talk to me before making the decision to compete in a life-threatening competition."

Alexander put a sympathetic hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I knew he was planning to and I told him that you and his mom would kick his ass if he didn't tell you. I really thought he'd had the common sense to talk to you about it."

"I guess were both overestimated him."

Alexander could see where Ms. Lebon had gotten up from the staff table and was heading towards the doors. "Do you want me to stay?" he asked.

"No, you go on home. You don't want to be around for the fight. Believe me, you don't."

Alex patted Marcia's shoulder before getting up to trail after Ms. Lebon so that he could go home for the evening. When he reached the main doors of the Dining Hall, he turned momentarily to look at the Goblet. Once he was sure that a fourth name wouldn't be popping out of the Goblet, he left.

When Alexander arrived home that evening, both Emmett and Edward were waiting for him. It didn't surprise him; Edward was almost always there to greet him and Emmett was really interested in the Tournament.

Much like most of the afternoon, the first part of the evening passed rather uneventfully. The mortal boy ate dinner, told his family about the champions, and studied a little. The only eventful thing that happened occurred after Alex retired to his room for the night.

He noticed a red light flashing on his cell phone. After picking up his phone and checking the menu, he discovered that he'd missed a call from a Forks telephone number. Alexander called it back immediately.

"_Hello_," a somewhat familiar voice came from the other end of the line.

"Hi Jacob, it looks like I missed your call."


	8. Chapter 8

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 8: Seven: Attraction**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.f

**Chapter Seven – Attraction**

Alexander was making his way across campus early Tuesday morning. It was the easiest time he'd had traveling across the courtyard since the Hogwarts and Beauxbatons students arrived the previous Friday. He attributed the ease of his trip to the fact that most of the students were at breakfast in the Dining Hall.

After reaching the central administrative building, the boy wasted no time in heading to the staff conference roomf. When he entered, he was surprised to find that it was already fairly full.

The long, boardroom style table that dominated the room had been magically altered so that three chairs could easily fit at the head; two regular sized chairs for Headmasters Dumbledore and Justinius and an oversized chair for Madam Maxime were positioned at the end farthest from the door. In addition to the three school heads, there were also a large number of professors from all three schools and a few representatives from the magical governments of the three represented nations.

Although everyone was still standing, it was clear from the way everyone hovered near one chair or another that they'd already started calling dibs, in a manner of speaking. Alexander was worried about finding a place to sit until Professor Cordelia Brekendridge motioned him over; she'd saved him a chair only three seats down from the head.

The teen was about to make his way over to his favorite professor when someone began speaking to him.

"Should you in be here?"

Alexander turned to look at the speaker. He was a tall young man who was fairly well-built. His features were chiseled, fbut were by no means as chiseled or angular as those of a vampire. The speaker had stormy gray eyes and light brown hair. Aside from Alex, he was the youngest person in the room by several years. The American Wizard believed that the young man was probably only a year out of school. Judging by his accent, that school would almost have certainly been Hogwarts.

"Yes. Should you?" Alex challenged.

The older boy chuckled. "I'm Cedric."

"Alexander," the Cullen boy responded. "And if you'll excuse me, Cedric, someone saved me a seat." The younger teen then bypassed the brown-haired young man and moved to the seat that Professor Brekenridge had saved for him.

"I see you've met the junior Auror," Brekenridge stated in her thick Boston accent when her favorite pupil arrived.

"_He's_ an Auror?" Alex incredulously demanded.

"Training to be," the professor explained. "One of the only Wizards accepted into the program in the last several years, from what I've heard. The British Ministry wasn't very impressed by your demand that American Aurors take over security for the Tournament, but didn't want to look like they weren't willing to take the same precautions for the Hogwarts students that we are taking for our students. Sending a trainee and a couple of has-been Aurors is their way of saying 'we're going to make our constituents happy but don't really think it's necessary.' They want to look like they're doing something without actually doing anything substantial."

Alexander shook his head. "He's not doing a very good job at providing security. Any real Auror that didn't think I should be in on this meeting would have stopped me and demanded to know my full name and what business I have here."

Cordelia laughed. "You really are just this oblivious, aren't you?"

"What?"

"He wanted to flirt with you," the professor explained. "He zeroed-in on you the moment he saw you and hasn't taken his eyes off of you since."

A bright red blush spread over Alexander's cheeks. He took a quick look back to where the Auror trainee was standing by the door. Cedric was watching him. When green eyes met gray, the older teen smiled confidently.

Alexander quickly looked away, feeling himself flush even more. Brekenridge just laughed.

"It isn't funny," the students said hotly.

"Yes, it really is."

Where ever else their conversation was going to go, it didn't get the chance. Everyone quieted down and took their seats as they saw that the three heads settle themselves at the head of the table.

Alexander adjusted his blue-tinted glasses on his face before looking around the room. There were more people in the room than chairs; the Aurors, including the trainee, were forced to stand along the wall of the room.

"Good morning, everyone," Justinius greeted. "Thus far, there have been no problems with the Tournament. At this time, we," he said motioning to himself and his fellow heads, "would like to discuss the major events for the rest of the Tournament so that things will continue to run just as smoothly. Isaac, please begin."

At the mention of his name, Professor Reynolds stood up from his seat on the opposite side of the table as Alexander and Professor Brekenridge. "Thank you, headmaster. We have scheduled the three Tasks. The First Task will be held on November the first, the Second Task on January the fourteenth, and the Third Task on May the first."

"Excellent, excellent," Headmaster Dumbledore said. "And you've already planned the tasks themselves?"

"The plans for the first task have been finalized. The second and third tasks have been planned out in a very general sense, but the final details are still in the works," the portly Wizard answered.

"Very good," Justinius said, nodding to Reynolds in order to tell him that he could sit. He then looked at the room at large. "There are three other major events that must be planned. First is the ceremonial weighing of the wands, the second is the Yule Ball, and the third is the awards ceremony at the conclusion of the Tournament. Professor Brekenridge, if you please."

Unlike Professor Reynolds, the Witch opted to remain seated as she spoke. "The weighing of the wands is scheduled for October first. We already have a wandsmith lined up for it. We've also contacted members of the media, both foreign and domestic, to ensure that they will be on hand for it. Some of them, a Ms. Skeeter in particular, have requested access to the champions for interviews."

No one missed the way Dumbledore frowned deeply at the mention of Skeeter. Regardless of any misgivings he might have about the reporter, he nodded his acquiescence when Headmaster Justinius looked to him questioningly.

"I 'ave no problem making Monsieur Moreau available," Madam Maxime said in her French accent.

"Then Mister Weathercrest makes a full set," Justinius said jovially. "If he consents, of course."

"Uh, right." Brekenridge took a moment to look at her notes. "The awards ceremony has a number of very specific traditions associated with it that need to be followed, so we're just planning to do what every other Tournament has done before. That just leaves the Yule Ball. It will, of course, be held on Christmas Eve. The planning, however, is Alexander's department."

"Who?" one of the British Ministry officials asked in confusion. He began to look around the room to find the person assigned to the prestigious task of planning the ball.

"Me," Alex said simply.

"Mister Cullen is the Student Body President of the New England Academy," Headmaster Julius Justinius explained. "He overseas all school activities. He is also the young man who proposed the use of binding magical agreements to ensure that no one underage or unwilling to participate was forcibly entered into the Tournament."

All eyes in the room were focused on Alexander by the time Justinius finished speaking. Some of the eyes were clearly appraising the boy while others—including several of the British Ministry delegation and Reynolds—were looking at him with ill-concealed resentment.

Reynolds' resentment was for the usual reason: he despised Alexander and all of his various attempts to modernize the school. The British Ministry of Magic officials, Alexander reasoned, were probably resentful that he'd pushed for additional security measures be taken. They, after all, maintained that Jonathan Potter had cheated to enter the last Tournament and that Oliver Wood had died as the result of a freak accident; there was no foul play involved except for Potter's misconduct, in their view.

The Cullen teen decided to ignore the staring and just start talking. It was fortunate that he'd had his sisters helping out with the plans for just over a week. "The plans for the Yule Ball are coming along nicely. The main things that need planning are music, food, and decorations. I'm reviewing sample menus. I've also owled a number of musical groups about setting up demonstrations over the next few weeks. And I have an experienced interior decorator and party planner drawing up plans for the decorations."

"Very nice work as always, Mister Cullen," the boy's headmaster complimented before moving on to the issue of security.

The next thirty minutes of the meeting was devoted to issues that Alexander wasn't entitled to have any input into, like the deployment of Aurors during the tasks and the importation of magical creatures. There had been a few objections to his continued presence in light of his friendship with one of the champions, but the headmaster and Professor Brekenridge vouched for his trustworthiness and devotion to fairplay.

When it was time for the meeting to finally wind down, Headmaster Justinius asked if there were any other issues that needed discussing.

"I have something," the Cullen Wizard spoke up. "It's an idea I've been toying with for the last day or so."

"Now isn't the time for the latest of your harebrained schemes," Reynolds scolded.

"I'd like to hear what he has to say," Professor Brekenridge countered with a smug look on her face. She then turned to Alex in a silent urging for him to continue.

"A number of students are expressing concern about overcrowding on campus," the boy began.

"There is no problem with overcrowding-"

"Isaac," Justinius barked. Once the professor shrank back from the biting tone of his superior, the headmaster nodded for Alexander to continue.

"While there is a suitable amount of space for dorms, there have been a number of concerns that the students living on campus are or will soon start feeling crowded outside of the dorms. The simply fact is that, regardless of the number of rooms that have been expanded, this island was selected to house an Academy of far fewer people than are actually living here now.

"I've been working on a number of ideas to remedy this. Or to at least provide some relief from the feeling that we're constantly stepping over one another. The first is to set up a number of, for lacking a better description, field trips. Days in which students can travel to various sites around the country. Museums, historical landmarks, shopping districts. I know this sort of thing is a logistical nightmare, but I think that it would relieve some of the pressure associated with this many people living in such close quarters. Also, I think that it would enhance the educational value of studying in another country if the Hogwarts and Beauxbatons students actually got to see some of the country beyond this campus."

"I agree. I greatly regret the fact that there wasn't such an opportunity during the last Tournament," Headmaster Dumbledore commented thoughtfully.

Headmaster Justinius nodded his head up and down several times before speaking. "I believe the idea has a great deal of merit."

Alexander smiled at the man's words. His smile wasn't nearly as smug as the smile Professor Brekenridge sent Professor Reynolds' way, though.

After discussing the field trip suggestion for several minutes, the meeting broke up so that the professors and students could go to their classes. Cedric sent Alex a friendly wave goodbye as the latter made his way out of the room. It was clear to New England student that, if Cedric could have ended his conversation with the grizzled-looking man he was speaking to, he would have made another attempt at conversing with the younger Wizard.

By the time classes ended for the day, Alexander was exhausted. He was beginning to think that that was going to be how he felt at the end of every school day. Never had he returned home from school so consistently wiped out as he had been in recent weeks.

"How was your day?" Edward asked as he escorted his adoptive brother to the house. His amber eyes glowed slightly in the pale moonlight.

"Good. Long, but good," Alex answered tiredly.

The pair continued on their way to the house in companionable silence. After they entered, Edward stopped abruptly and his face became very concerned-looking.

"What?"

"Hold still," he told the mortal. He then reached forward and plucked a stray eyelash from Alexander's cheek. After removing the lash, he placed it on the tip of his finger. "Make a wish."

"Mom!" the Wizard shouted rather than complying. "Edward's cheating!"

"What?" Esme asked as she and Alexander's siblings, all of whom were in one of the rooms at the front of the house, turned to face the pair.

"He's trying to trick me into thinking about what I want for my birthday," Alexander tattled.

Although Carlisle had been able to estimate the mortal boy's actual birthday as being sometime around the first week of August based on his size and level of development at the time of his adoption, it was tradition in the Cullen household to celebrate Alexander's birthday on the anniversary of the day he had been taken into their care: the second day of October. It was also tradition that Edward was not allowed to use his mindreading ability to try and figure out what the boy wanted for his birthday.

The latter tradition had come into being after Alice complained that the bronze-haired immortal had an unfair advantage when it came to selecting birthday gifts for the Wizard.

"Edward," Esme scolded.

"I'm not cheating," the offending vampire said with mock indignity. "I'm just taking part in a totally normal custom."

"It's not normal, dude," Emmett pointed out.

Alexander smirked triumphantly at Edward before blowing the eyelash from the vampire's fingertip.

The immortal shook his head. "Real cute, Alex."

"What?" Alice questioned.

"He thought, 'I wish to be surprised,'" Edward explained to his sister. He turned back to Alexander. "You could have skipped the 'getting Edward in trouble' part and just thought that in the first place."

"I could have," the Wizard admitted. "But it wouldn't have been half as much fun." He crossed the room, dropped his bag on the floor, and then sat himself down on one of the couches that were arranged around the television. Specifically, he sat next to Emmett and Rosalie.

"How was your day?" his mother asked.

"I already asked that," Edward grumbled.

"Good," Alexander answered. "I pitched my field trip idea; it went over really well. And I gave a progress report on the plans for the Yule Ball. Thank you, by the way," he said to Rosalie and Alice.

"Happy to help," Alice said cheerfully.

Rosalie simply smiled at her mortal sibling.

"Anything else?" Esme questioned.

Alex's mind drifted momentarily to his conversation with Brekenridge about Cedric. "Well, there was this British Auror trainee at the meeting. Professor Brekenridge thinks he was trying to flirt with me; I think he was just being a jerk."

"Oh?" Rosalie asked, suddenly very interested in the conversation.

Although Jasper had seemed to be his usual disinterested self up until this point, he too took an immediate interest in the conversation.

"He didn't think I should be in the meeting. He kinda creeped me out, actually. Too much staring."

"If he creeped you out, then why are you blushing?" Rosalie challenged with a smirk.

"I'm just . . . not used to that kind of attention is all."

"Was he cute?" Alice asked.

"I so don't want to be having this conversation," Alex said in exasperation. He stood up from the sofa.

"You didn't answer the question," Esme pointed out.

Esme Cullen's face was impassive, but Alexander knew that one of his mother's great fears was him falling in love with a mortal and deciding not to be turned into a vampire as a result.

Alex's sexuality wasn't an issue for the family. He'd realized that he was homosexual a little more than a year earlier. Although he had been initially reluctant to share that revelation with any other member of his family, he eventually realized that his sexual orientation wasn't anything that they would upset them in the least. When he had come out, as the phrase goes, no one did so much as bat an eye. His family had accepted his statement, made sure he understood that it changed nothing for them, and moved on.

Despite their acceptance, Alex had never been keen on discussing matters of romance with the vampires. He just felt uncomfortable about it, for some reason.

The mortal rolled his eyes. "He was attractive, I'll give him that; but he's not what I'm looking for," he answered somewhat cryptically before forcing himself to think about the plans for the Yule Ball. The last thing he wanted at the moment was for Edward to be privy to his often conflicting thoughts on the matter of romance and sexual attraction.

"I'm going to head downstairs to wash up for dinner," the Wizard changed the subject before leaving the room.

By the time the boy returned, Carlisle had returned home. Edward, however, had left.

"Where's Edward?" he asked his sister, Rosalie.

"He went hunting," she answered absently, not even looking up from her magazine.

Alexander didn't respond, but he was very worried. Edward's eyes had been pure gold earlier and there were no dark, bruise-like circles around his eyes; there should have been no need for him to hunt. Had Alexander slipped and thought about the strange feelings he was having for Edward? Had Edward left because he was uncomfortable around the boy?

These thoughts made for a very sullen dinner.

After eating, Alex reviewed some sketches that Alice and Rosalie had made for the Yule Ball. He'd provided both vampires with detailed descriptions of the Dining Hall, and they, in turn, had spent days debating how to decorate the room.

Some of the sketches called for illusion charms to be placed on the windows to give the room the feeling of being in the middle of a winter wonderland. Others demanded the construction of an elaborate stage for the band to perform on. Another called for the casting of a complex charm that caused the ceiling to imitate the sky outside of the building—that particular idea has been born of a description Alex had read of the Great Hall at Hogwarts.

Alexander meticulously reviewed each and every detail of the sketches, making notes on this laptop to give to the girls later. They would incorporate his notes on what he thought his classmates and guests would enjoy and what he thought they wouldn't into the next plan. Eventually, the three would come up with a final plan on how the Dining Hall should be decorated.

The Wizard kept himself busy until after Edward came home from his very short hunt. By the time the vampire returned, Alexander was the only person in the living room.

Although the boy's mind had been allowed to wander towards his anxieties about the vampire over the past several hours, he had to be careful now that they were under the same room as one another once more.

"Welcome back," Alex greeted his brother.

"Good evening, Alexander."

"Did you have a nice hunt?"

"It was pleasant enough," the immortal responded. "Everyone has retired for the evening?"

"Yes," the human answered. "If by that you mean that they've all gone to their rooms for 'alone time.'"

Edward gave his adoptive brother a small smile. He hesitated for a moment before saying anything else; it was odd for the vampire to ever hesitate long enough for the human to actually notice. "Alex," he ventured.

"Yes?"

"If you decide to pursue your attraction to this Auror trainee, please be careful. I don't want you getting hurt," Edward said quickly before leaving the room.

Alexander wanted to call to him and ask him wait, but he didn't. He simply sat in the chair, his eyes stinging for a reason he couldn't understand.

Why did Edward's words make his chest ache so terribly?

The human boy put the sketches away and went to bed. He slept very fitfully that night.

A/N: I've been asked a couple of times why no one has recognized Alex as Harry Potter yet. The short answer is that no one who would recognize him has really interacted with him yet. He was adopted at a very young age and not everyone can look at a sixteen-year-old and make the connection to a long-missing toddler unless they had significant contact with the child (like a parent). The list of people who would recognize him on sight in pretty short.

Dumbledore might have recognized him by making a mental comparison to a young Lily or James, but didn't today. Why not? Well, his hair is longer than James ever kept it (it has been noted that Alex keeps his hair a few inches longer than he'd like so that it would curl like Emmett's rather than just being messy) and his green eyes are hidden behind those shaded glasses (refer to chapter 6). He also doesn't act or speak like Lily or James. The similarities are there, but they are buried deep enough that it takes more interaction than we've had thus far to actually see them.

A more thorough explanation will unfold as the story progresses.


	9. Chapter 9

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 9: Eight: The Birthday**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Eight – The Birthday**

The library on the New England Academy of Magic campus was, in Alexander's opinion, magnificent. He wasn't the kind of person who was typically impressed by buildings, but there were some days when he was simply amazed at the idea of the collective knowledge of so many centuries being stored in a single place.

He had devoted a significant portion of the previous week to researching different branches of magic, searching for just the right one to help him with his current problem. Alexander had finally found what he was looking for a few hours earlier that day, but had to put things on hold to go help set up a room for the weighing of the wands ceremony.

Right now, he was just glad that he didn't have to actually do anything for the ceremony beyond setting the room up; only the three heads, New England's two deputy heads, the three champions, the wandmaker, and the reporters were going to be present for the weighing. His job was done, so he could devote his energy towards other things.

Aside from the general relief at having his bit of work for the ceremony completed, he was also glad that he wouldn't have to stand at Eric's side while the other boy took part. Although Alex still hung out with Eric and was supporting his efforts to prepare for the First Task, the Cullen boy was very careful to apportion his time equally between Eric and the blond's now-former girlfriend, Marcia. Alex wasn't sure if 'former' was the right description, as his two friends hadn't formally split up and still obviously loved each other. Perhaps a better description was 'couple on the outs.' Either way, he just didn't want to feel obligated to have to find time to spend with Marcia that afternoon; he had other plans.

Putting thoughts of his feuding friends out of his mind, Alexander entered the library. Now knowing what subject he was searching for, the Cullen Wizard considered simply summoning the desired books with his wand. But when he noticed the way the librarian was watching him like a hawk from the moment he entered, he decided to do things the Muggle way: he went to the card catalogue and looked up where to find the needed books.

To his disappointment, there was only one book on Occlumency in the entire library.

After memorizing the card catalogue number for the book he wanted, Alexander went up to the second floor of the library and hunted down the appropriate stack.

When he reached the area that believed the book was stored, he bent over and began to read the numbers etched on the sides of the books one at a time. He quickly found that he'd started looking later in the call numbers than he initially thought and so began to work backwards. The boy was aware of another person searching the books on the top shelf of the same case, but didn't really pay other student much mind.

Alexander finally found the appropriate book—_Occlumency: Mind over Magic_—and reached for it. His hand touched the book he'd been searching for at the same time that the other person searching in the case reached for it.

The two boys pulled back and looked at one another. To his surprise, Alexander found himself face-to-face with Jonathan Potter.

It was a testament to the curly-haired Wizard's self-control that his eyes didn't immediately dart up to look at the famed lightning bolt scar on Potter's forehead.

Alex and John looked at one another for a long moment, awkwardly trying to find something to say. Both of them were clearly trying to figure out a way to lay claim to the book without coming across as a jerk.

"Umm . . . you're," the green-eyed boy began.

"Yeah, the Boy-Who-Lived," the hazel-eyed boy replied in irritation.

"Actually, I was going to say 'Charles's older brother.'"

Jonathan was genuinely surprised that that was what the other boy had planned on saying, and it showed on his face. "You know Charlie?" He looked at the younger Wizard for a moment, sizing him up and searching his face. His eyes widened slightly in realization after a few seconds. "You're the bloke he was talking about the other day. The one he was waving to the night that the champions were picked. Andrew, right?"

"Alexander," the Cullen corrected.

"Oh, sorry about that," Jonathan said sheepishly. "He's said some really good things about you. What you did that afternoon with his leg was brilliant."

"He told you about that?"

"Eventually," the taller boy answered. "He didn't really seem like he wanted to. Like he thought I'd be upset with him or something. But he did tell me after a bit. And when he did, he told me that you helped him deal with being picked on."

Alex shrugged. "It was no big deal."

"It meant a great deal to him that you took the time to talk to him and patch up his leg. Especially since you didn't really know him, except for sitting at the same table during that first dinner. He went on and on about what a great Wizard you are."

The only mortal Cullen laughed. "I miss that age. When every little bit of magic was still considered really impressive."

The Boy-Who-Lived smiled back. "Absolutely."

There was another moment of semi-tense silence. "So," Alex broke it, drawing the word out a bit. "I see we're both interested in Occlumency."

Jonathan's eyes strayed away from Alex and towards the book for a moment. "It seems so. But it's just a hobby of mine." He added the last bit quickly.

"Same here." Alexander certainly wasn't about to reveal his adoptive brother's power to a total stranger. No one other than Headmaster Justinius and a small handful of people at the Department of Magical Affairs knew that he lived with vampires. And even they didn't know that Edward was a mindreader.

The Gryffindor seemed to debate with himself for a few seconds. "You should take it. I owe you, after all."

"No," Alexander argued, "I'm going to need it for a long time."

"So am I."

"Well . . . We could share it. Trade off by days. Study it one day, hand it off, and practice what you learn on the day that the other has the book."

The Potter Wizard nodded his head, thinking it over. "That might work. But you should take it the first day."

"Actually, I'm playing hooky tomorrow. So you should take it first," the sixteen-year-old said.

"You're playing hooky?" Jonathan asked, smirking and suddenly looking interested.

"Tomorrow is my birthday," Alex explained. "My family always makes it an all-day affair, so I skip classes. I'm actually just about to leave."

"A skip day sounds like a pretty good present," the other boy nodded approvingly.

"So there's no chance of me studying the book for a few days, so it would be pointless for me to take it first."

"If you're sure . . ."

"Absolutely," Alexander assured the Hogwarts student. "You can borrow it from the library and take it for the next two days. Drop it off to me in the Student Government Office on the third floor of the central administrative building at the end of classes the day after tomorrow. We can just trade off there every day. Except for weekends. I don't live on campus, so whoever gets the book Friday afternoon should just keep it until Monday."

"That sounds like it will work to me."

The pair turned and started to head towards the staircase that led down to the first floor. When they reached the top of the stairs, Alexander caught sight of the back of a head of brown hair. He immediately moved backwards and hid in the nearest aisle of shelves.

"Al-" Jonathan started, but he was quickly shushed by the other boy.

"Don't say my name," the Cullen boy snapped. "He might hear."

Potter looked confused and silently moved to where Alexander had hidden himself. "What's going on?"

"My stalker."

Jonathan walked over and looked down the stairs before moving back to Alex's side. "Cedric Diggory?"

"He conveniently shows up everywhere I go. He's at the portkey sight when I show up and when I go home. He bumps into in between classes. He has even started to ask my friends about me."

Jonathan laughed. "I never took Diggory for the stalker type."

"I really don't want to mess with this today," the younger teen said in frustration.

"Alright," the Gryffindor said, "I'm going to help you out, but you can't say a word to anyone."

Before Alex Cullen could ask what Jonathan was doing, the seventeen-year-old reached into his backpack and produced a large, silvery piece of cloth. "It's an invisibility cloak. Put it on."

The bespectacled boy let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you so much," he thanked the Boy-Who-Lived before throwing the cloak on.

Alexander remained Jonathan's invisible and silent shadow as he went down the stairs.

"Hey Cedric," the Hogwarts student greeted the older teen. "What are you doing here?"

Alexander felt a very strong urge to strangle the other teen with the cloak he was wearing.

The Auror-in-training turned to look at the seventh year student. "Not much. Just looking for somebody."

"Anyone I know?"

"Probably not; Alexander Cullen."

"Oh, Alex," Jonathan said. "I saw him just a little while ago."

"Where?" Cedric asked, suddenly perking up.

Jonathan hemmed and hawed for a moment, as though he was having a hard time remembering exactly where he'd seen Alex Cullen. "He was leaving the library as I was going in. I think he said something about grabbing a bite to eat."

"The Dining Hall," Cedric said to himself, as though he'd just solved some great mystery. "Thanks, Jonathan. I owe you one." Without another word, he sped from the room.

Alexander had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing out loud as he saw Cedric all but sprint from the library.

"C'mon," Jonathan Potter said softly to his companion.

Alexander continued to follow Jonathan as he checked the book out and then left the library through its front entrance. The older teen then led him behind a tree so that he could remove the cloak without being seen.

"Thank you," Alexander said sincerely as he returned the cloak. "I really owe you for this."

"Let's just call it even for you helping out Charlie."

"Man, did I get a bargain," Alex laughed for a moment before becoming serious. "That didn't sound right at all. I would have talked-"

"I know," Jonathan assured him, turning the book over in his hand. He then looked up at Alex. "Well, I sent Cedric off to the Dining Hall, so you should have time to portkey home without getting caught."

Alexander smiled. "I should. I guess this is where we part ways, then. Have a good one," he said with a nod of the head before heading off in the direction of the portkey site.

"Hey!" Jonathan called before the other boy could get out of earshot, careful not to use his name in case Cedric was still within earshot. When Alexander turned, he shouted, "Happy birthday!"

Alex smiled at the older Wizard before going home.

The evening of October the first was a quiet one in the Cullen household. The various vampires were all very tight-lipped about what was planned for Alexander's birthday. Although he was curious, the mortal boy was a little bit relieved to have time to work on all of his homework that would be due when he returned to classes the day after his birthday. Although he was no scholar, he preferred having the work done beforehand rather than having to making it up afterwards.

When Alexander woke up on his birthday, he was surprised to find that his alarm clock was flashing '12:00.'

"What?" he asked his otherwise empty room. "Power outage?"

He silently showered, brushed his teeth, and otherwise prepared for the day. He had no idea what was planned, so he opted for comfort over style. Even though he knew it would vex Alice greatly.

As soon as he reached the top of the stairs, he was assaulted by seven vampires shouting "Happy birthday!"

His parents and siblings provided Alexander with well wishes. Esme and Carlisle hugged him while Rosalie and Alice kissed his cheeks. When he was released by his parents, Edward gave him a firm hug that lifted him off of his feet. After being put down, Jasper—who usually avoided any and all physical contact with the mortal—gave his hand a shake while Emmett ruffled his hair.

Alexander couldn't keep the goofy grin off of his face as he was passed around by the immortals.

"What time is it?" he asked once thing settled down.

"Just a little bit before noon," Edward answered with a superior smile.

"Noon!" the Wizard exclaimed.

"We might have cut the power off for a minute or two last night so that you'd sleep in," Alex's father informed him. "You deserve a day to relax."

And that was exactly what Alexander got. After a leisurely lunch at home, his family took him to Seattle to see an action movie he'd wanted to see. The movie was followed by an afternoon at a shopping center eating junk food and playing video games in the arcade. The outing was capped off with dinner at Alex's favorite restaurant. The group then returned home for presents and cake.

Alexander liked to play it cool when it came to receiving presents from his family members, but even he knew that he looked like an impatient child as he practically bounced up and down on the couch cushions.

"Alright," Carlisle said once everyone was ready, "who wants to go first?"

Alice's hand shot up in the air. "Ooh, ooh, pick us!" she shouted, referring to both Jasper and herself.

Alex's father laughed before turning to his youngest. "It's your choice."

"Go ahead, Alice," the mortal said with a big smile.

Alice and her mate gave Alexander a set of photo albums. They'd gone through and made copies of all of the photographs the family had ever taken and then organized them into a series albums. The albums tracked the entire history of the Cullen coven. The most pictures, of course, were taken after Alexander had been adopted by the family.

Rosalie went next. She had purchased Alex a number of new clothes. To everyone's surprise, however, the clothes that she gave him were comfortable, rather than the stiff but stylish clothes she tended to go for.

Emmett had purchased a variety of video games for his youngest brother. He swore that he hadn't played any of them, so Alexander would be able to have at least some advantage over the large vampire the first time they played against one another. Alex would play the games first and the experience and skill he would gain should, in theory, help put him on a more even footing with the immortal's advanced reflexes.

Edward's gift was a CD of music he composed for Alexander himself. When the younger boy moved to hug his adoptive brother and show his appreciation, the vampire stopped him.

"You should wait. The disc is only part of the gift," he explained before turning to Carlisle and Esme.

Alexander followed Edward's lead and turned to his parents. Carlisle and Esme looked back and forth at one another before handing Alex a small box that was tied with a bow.

The mortal wasted no time in ripping the bow off and opening the present. Inside the little box sat a set of keys.

"A car? You bought me a car?"

"It is a very traditional sixteenth birthday gift," Carlisle stated as the mortal boy flung himself at his parents in excitement and embraced them in a hug.

"And there is a state-of-the-art sound system installed in it. Courtesy of Edward," Esme told her son.

After releasing his parents, Alex rushed to his brother and gave him a hug as well. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," he whispered up into the bronze-haired vampire's ear.

"Your happiness is all the thanks I ever require, Alexander," Edward whispered back.

"You'll need lessons," Esme said as she watched her youngest son pull back from Edward slightly. "And I don't want you driving by yourself in bad weather. Or at night. Or-"

Carlisle, for perhaps the first time ever, interrupted his wife. "Alex is a very responsible young man. He won't get hurt. He'll have one of us with him until he's learned enough to drive on his own. Right, Alex?"

"Of course," he answered. "But, can I try it out tonight?"

The blond vampire smiled at his son. "Of course."

In all of the excitement over just receiving a car, Alexander had totally forgotten to ask about what type of car he'd be receiving. He was thrilled when he saw that he'd been giving a sporty little hybrid. It was trendy, economical, and safe.

Alexander spent a couple of minutes admiring the gun metal gray car before sitting in the driver's seat. "C'mon, Edward!"

The vampire smiled before sitting in the passenger seat.

The mortal boy did fairly well for his first time driving. He chalked that up to Edward's expert teaching skills. And his quick reflexes in the one or two instances when he'd reached out and taken hold of the wheel in order to prevent Alexander from driving his new car into a tree or a ditch.

After finishing his first driving lesson, Alexander extracted promises from his family members to provide him with many more lessons in the coming days.

At last, they had reached what Emmett referred to as the 'mushy' part of night. The birthday cake—chocolate, of course—was brought out and decorated with sixteen candles. After Alex blew out the candles, not bothering form a proper wish, Esme cut the birthday cake, handed a piece to her 'little prince,' and then gave a short toast.

"Even though we know Alex was born sometime during the summer, we've always celebrated his birthday on this day. Because today is the anniversary of the day that this little one-year-old boy was put into my arms. The anniversary of the first day he looked up at me with these dazzling green eyes and smiled. It was . . . _he_ was perfect."

"Still is!" Alice added jokingly.

Esme smiled before continuing. "Alex, I knew from the first moment that I held you that I loved you. That I loved you more than life itself. That you completed this family. And . . . I just want you know how much I love you, son."

Esme tried to keep talking, but she couldn't find the words to properly express herself. She didn't have to for very long; Alexander put his cake down on the table and hugged his mother as tight as he could.

He knew he was loved, so anything else she might try to say didn't really matter in the long run.

Alexander was reluctant to go to bed that night; he was just so excited at all of the things his family had done for him that day. Fortunately, he didn't have to go to sleep right away. No sooner had Alexander changed clothes than his cell phone went off.

"Hello?"

"_Hey Alex!_" Jacob Black's voice came from the device.

"Jacob," Alex greeted with a smile in his voice. "Haven't heard from you in a while."

"_Sorry, man; I've been busy. But you mentioned before that today was your birthday. So I wanted to call and wish you a happy one. A birthday. I mean . . . ugh, happy birthday, man._"

Alexander laughed at the way Jake stuttered his way through the birthday greeting. "Thanks."

"_So, what did you get? Anything good?_"

"A car," the Wizard answered, feeling a little bit like he was bragging. He hoped that he wasn't coming off like Cirilla.

"_No way! That's great, man. Maybe you'll be able to drive back to Forks and visit me sometime._"

The green-eyed boy felt a pang of guilt over the continued deception. Jacob still didn't know who Alexander really was or that he actually lived only a few miles away from him. He told himself it was necessary, but it didn't stop the awful feeling he got in his gut every time he had to repeat his lies.

The pair talked for over an hour on the phone before Jacob said that he needed to get to bed. Or rather, that his father was insisting he get off the phone.

After turning his cell phone off, Alexander sat back on his bed and thought about his birthday wish, the one he'd refused to think up when he blew out the candles. He fell asleep wondering what he wanted most in the world and dreamed of amber eyes and messy bronze hair.


	10. Chapter 10

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 10: Nine: The First Task**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Nine – The First Task**

Alexander had never felt quite as busy as he had throughout the month of October. It seemed to him that every time he accomplished one thing, three or four new issues arose to takes its place.

Outside of the massive amounts of schoolwork that had landed on his desk and attempting to organize field trips and the Yule Ball, Alex devoted the largest chunk of his time to the study and practice of Occlumency. After spending four weeks on the art, he thought that he was beginning to get a handle on the basics. Whether this was true or not, however, was hard to gauge. The only mindreader he knew was Edward. The vampire gave no indication that his adoptive brother's thoughts were occasionally hidden from him and Alex was far too afraid of offending the immortal to ask.

Edward did, however, seem unusually withdrawn. He rarely spoke to anyone for more than a few minutes at a time and had taken to going on long hunts after school.

The Wizard knew that the biggest hindrance to his study of Occlumency was his emotional state. The fundamental of the art was to empty one's mind of emotion. It was strange to try and empty one's mind of emotion so that those emotions can be analyzed, but Alexander did his best.

He still didn't quite understand the myriad of emotions that every little thing Edward did evoked and he was so terrified of losing his relationship with the vampire to risk letting his mind wander to the topic for more than a few minutes each day at school. It would destroy the mortal if Edward were to distance himself because Alex's thoughts made him uncomfortable.

Guilt was also weighing heavily on the Wizard. His friendship with Jacob Black was progressing to the point that they spoke on the phone approximately every other day. The lies he was forced to tell Jacob haunted. He feared what the younger teen would say if and when he learned that he'd not had a single conversation with Alexander that wasn't based on a lie.

Then, of course, there was the near-constant tension at school caused over the continued separation of Eric and Marcia. The Witch was too angry to talk with Eric without yelling and he was too proud to admit that he had screwed up by not discussing his decision to enter his name into the Goblet of Fire without providing Marcia with at least a little advance notice.

"You lied to her," Alex had pointed out.

"It wasn't a lie."

"It was a lie by omission," the Cullen boy replied. "You knew that you should have told her beforehand and you purposefully decided to keep her in the dark. Every time that you two talked about the Tournament that you didn't mentioned you planning to enter was a conversation founded on a lie."

Those conversations made Alex feel like such a damned hypocrite.

Alexander was just sick of being caught of the middle of their spat. Because Eric was his best mortal friend and Marcia, in his opinion, was in the right, he had refused to take sides in the matter. As Marcia and Eric refused to spend any time with one another, the sixteen-year-old Wizard had to be careful to divide his time evenly between his two friends so as to not share favoritism.

Marcia didn't really have all that many friends at the New England Academy, so tended to be by herself in the library when not hanging out with Alexander. Eric, by comparison, was quite popular. And he seemed to making friends with a number of students from the other schools, despite in inherent rivalry that the Tournament had created. In particular, Alexander had seen him joking around and speaking in hushed tones with three Hogwarts students. One was a tall, lanky boy with red hair. The second was a dark-skinned boy who was almost as tall as the redhead. The third Wizard was shorter and stockier than the first two, had sandy brown hair, and, in the one instance that Alexander had heard him speak, had a thick Irish brogue. They were all sixth year Gryffindors, if Alexander remembered correctly.

There were a couple of bright spots, however. The biggest being that Alexander was finally being taught how to drive by his sibling and parents. It was a big step for Esme to let him drive. Although he was still required to have a 'responsible adult'—how that phrase applied to Emmett, he didn't understand—in the car with him whenever he drove, the promise of independence that the car represented was exhilarating.

It was also interesting how each of the Cullens had a distinctly different style of driving that they tried to impart on the boy. Emmett was fun but a bit reckless; Alice was a speed demon; Esme was cautious to the point of absurdity; and Carlisle was very relaxed. Edward was the only teacher who seemed to want the mortal to find his own style for himself. Alexander had yet to have a driving lesson from either Rosalie or Jasper—not that he ever expected to receive one from the latter.

Another bright spot was that Cedric Diggory seemed to be taking a hint. He still made it clear to Alexander that he was interested, but he'd stopped being the stalker he had been in the first week that they knew one another.

November the first was a wet and gray morning. All of the students at the New England Academy of Magic were bundled up against the cold. The temperature hovered right around the point of freezing, but the cold breeze that came off of the Atlantic and the drizzling rain chilled everyone to the bone.

Alexander was sitting in the large stands that had been erected to view the First Task, his wand resting lazily in his hand as it projected a Rain Repellant Charm. The spell created an invisible shield above the Wizard, keeping him dry. To an outside observer, it looked like he was holding an umbrella that, save for the handle, was completely invisible.

The New England campus had three lighthouses: the Northern, Easter, and Southern Watchtowers. They had served as the dormitories for the original school before the new campus had been constructed. Where the new school was warm and bright, the old school dark and cold because it was composed of a series of tunnels and chambers that ran between the three towers.

The decision had been announced one week earlier that the First Task would be held inside the Southern Watchtower. Alexander assumed, based on this decision, that the Northern and Eastern Towers would hold the Second and Third Tasks.

Because the challenge was to be held inside the Southern Watchtower, all of the members of the audience had been given omnioculars to watch the event with. While normal omnioculars couldn't see through walls, a series of spells had been added to the walls of the tower so that the devices would in this particular instance.

"Can we go now?" Marcia asked from Alexander's right.

"It hasn't even started," he replied patiently.

"So? I don't even want to be here."

The Wizard knew that that was a lie; Marcia wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world. Although she and Eric were having a contest to see who could be stubborn the longest, Marcia Johnston loved the New England Champion with all her heart. A tribe of angry centaurs wielding bows and arrows couldn't keep her away from the First Task.

Alexander took a moment to look about the crowd and see what guests had decided to attend.

From where he was sitting, he could easily see Cirilla Bellcroft—a short, blond Witch who held herself to the most extreme of Pureblood standards and considered herself something akin to Alexander's nemesis—holding court with a group of Slytherin students. A dark-skinned Hogwarts Wizard, in particular, seemed to be hanging on to her every word. Her cold sense of superiority was only diminished during one brief moment in which her sister, Adriana, took a moment to stop by for a quick 'hello' on her way to sit with some of her own cronies.

For the briefest of moments, Alexander felt pity for his classmate as the arrival of her sister broke her careful composure. Cirilla had lived her entire life in Adriana's shadow. The older Witch had been Professor Reynolds' favorite student and had served as the Student Body President of the New England Academy for her last two years at the school. Cirilla had hoped that she would be able to succeed her sister in the post, but lost to Alexander.

Despite their different ideals, Cirilla and Alexander had had a friendly relationship before the day he decided to run against her in the election. She never forgave him.

Also from where Alexander was sitting, he could see the Potter siblings. Jonathan Potter, whom Alex had regular contact with when they exchanged the Occlumency book every afternoon, seemed to be trying to keep a low profile. His shoulders were hunched over and he was pointedly ignoring the reporter with the stiff, curly blonde hair that was attempting to interview him.

Charles Potter, who found Alexander somewhere on the campus at least once a day to pepper him with questions about this or that, was sitting between his brother and his sister. He seemed very excited about the Task.

The third Potter, Cara, was sitting on the other side of her younger brother. Though Alexander hadn't spoken to the Potter Witch except for at the Welcome Dinner, he had heard rumors that she had quite the temper and had brutally hexed several Hufflepuff third-years a few weeks earlier. Alexander couldn't help but wonder if those were the students who had gotten into a scuffle with Charles on the day that the champions were selected.

Interestingly enough, Cara was sitting next to a still-nervous looking Draco Malfoy rather than Cormac McLaggen.

Alex also caught sight of Cedric Diggory shadowing one of the British Aurors that was working security at the event.

After waiting for what felt like hours, Headmasters Justinius and Dumbledore and Headmistress Maxime walked into the space in front of the stands. The three spoke to one another for a few minutes. As they spoke, a group of Wizards began to set up a long table with three chairs behind them. A second group of Wizards could be seen over by the Watchtower, setting up three short pillars. A small pyramid was placed on top of each pillar before the Wizards began casting spells that surrounded the golden objects with black fire.

After the two groups were finished with their work, Justinius raised his wand above his head and fired silver and gold sparks into the air. A hush fell over the crowd as Justinius began to speak, his voice magically amplified.

"Welcome to the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament!" he began. After allowing a moment for the crowd to cheer and applaud, he continued. "I present to you, the three champions."

Eric Weathercrest, Matthieu Moreau, and Katie Bell made their way to stand in front of the crowd. All three looked nervous, but had the presence of mind to have their wands at the ready.

Looking far more nervous that the champions themselves were their loved ones. Mrs. Weathercrest was standing by the front of the stands chewing on her lower lip, Marcia suddenly appeared ill, and Jonathan Potter looked like he was going to leap from his seat and steal Katie Bell away from the Tournament all together.

"The goal of this task is to acquire one of the small pyramids that are sitting on the pillars that have been set up behind me. When the signal is given, each of the champions will enter the tower from one of its three entrances. Each entrance leads to one of three identical paths up to the top of the tower. At the top are three goblets filled with potion. The potion is the only thing that can extinguish the flame that protects the prize.

"This is no mere race, however. In addition to protective measure left over from the time when this tower housed the first class of students at the New England Academy, the tower is now home to an _infestation_ of creatures that will do everything in their power to ensure the goblet does not leave the tower."

As the headmaster spoke, almost everyone in the crowd retrieved their omnioculars and began to look at the interior of the Southern Watchtower. Alexander had only been inside the tower once in his first year on a dare from Eric, but he recognized that the interior had been gutted. There were three entrances evenly spaced around the exterior of the building, each of which led to one of three staircases that spiraled up the side of the tower towards the top room. Everything else in the interior had been removed, turning the bulk of the insides into one gigantic room. Although the paths and the goblets were easily visible, whatever creatures were alleged to be protecting the goblets remained invisible for time being.

The three champions, at the instruction of Headmaster Justinius, left their place at the front of the crowd and spread out around the tower. Eric was standing in front of the entrance on the side of the tower that faced the crowd, so Alexander and Marcia didn't need to use their omnioculars to see him.

Once everyone was in place, Justinius raised his wand into the air once more. This time, rather than firing colored sparks, he created a loud booming sound that reverberated off of the buildings on the island.

None of the three champions wasted any time in racing up the tower. Katie Bell, who was very athletic and had a runner's build, took an early lead. Eric wasn't much slower than her, but he'd always focused more on strength than speed. Moreau was last, though not for any lack of physical prowess; he seemed to be moving more cautiously through the tower than the other two competitors.

"I don't get it," Marcia asked Alex quietly. "Why isn't anything attacking them?"

Alexander thought it over for a few moments, but couldn't come up with an exact reason. Although he had been involved in some of the planning of the Tournament, only a select few individuals had been allowed to know what the specifics regarding the Tasks were.

After several minutes, Katie Bell reached the top of the tower. The top room of the tower was single small room split into thirds by three walls that met in the center of the room but didn't quite reach the ceiling. Where the actual light of the lighthouse had once been now sat a round table, also split into third by the aforementioned walls. Leaned up against the exterior wall on either side of each of the spots where the stairs breached the top room were two suits of armor.

The Witch wasted no time at all in retrieving the potion, not noticing the two large suits of armor standing in the room. The moment she lifted the goblet off of the table, a pressure switch beneath the goblet was released and the two suits of armor came to life and moved for her.

Katie bell spun around, aiming her wand at the approaching suits or armor. She threw a Slashing Hex at one of the suits, but it had little effect. Though she tried several other spells, including a Tickling Charm, none did her any good.

Deciding to stop relying on magic, the Gryffindor changed to Quidditch tactics. As one of the suits reached for her, the Witch leapt to the side as though she was dodging a bludger. With extraordinary dexterity, she weaved and dodged her past her attackers and made for the stairs without spilling a single drop of potion from the goblet.

"So the suits of armor were the old defense . . . What do you suppose the creatures will be?" Alex asked aloud.

While Bell was exiting the top room, Eric entered it. He too immediately went for the goblet without paying any mind to the suits. When he heard the iron warriors come to life, he reacting by blasting them to pieces with a Blasting Charm. His enemies vanquished, he returned to the lower level through the staircase mere seconds after Katie Bell did.

The Beauxbatons champion, Matthieu, was the last to enter the top room. He stopped to examine the room thoroughly before acting. Taking note of the two suits of armor in his section of the top room, he reached out for the goblet experimentally. When he lifted the container, the suits came to life; when he returned the goblet, they returned to being lifeless decorations.

For a moment, Alexander thought that the French boy was going to conjure something to hold the pressure switch down while he made off with the goblet, but he didn't. Instead, the tan boy's face became a mask of concentration as he examined the potion. He waved his wand over the fluid several times as he debated what to do.

Elsewhere, Katie and Eric were attempting to race down the tower stairs. Neither made it very far before dozens of eight-legged creatures the size of large dogs began to approach them from all sides.

"Acromantulas?" Marcia cried out as one of the large spiders floated down on a silver piece of webbing towards Eric.

"'Infestation' is right," Alex muttered, repeating his headmaster's earlier description of the creatures in the tower.

Eric and Katie both stopped their attempts to continue down the tower and instead began to face off against the spiders. The pair began to throw every offensive spell they could think of, but, more often than not, the spiders were just too quick for them. Fortunately, even when they didn't hit the acromantulas, the act of dodging forced the arachnids to fall back slightly.

Up in the top chamber, Matthieu had finally reached a decision about what to do. He picked the goblet up, took in a mouthful of the potion, and then sat the goblet down. With his mouth full of the liquid, he began to make his way safely out of the room and down the stairs; he was totally unharassed by the monstrous spiders.

Evidently, the spells he had been using were designed to determine if holding the potion in his mouth would be harmful to his health.

"Why aren't they going for the French guy?" Alexander wondered aloud.

Marcia took in a sudden breath. "The goblet, remember. Headmaster Justinius said that the enchantments and creatures would protect the goblet, not the potion. And he only needs the potion to douse the flames."

Alex wanted to smack himself on the forehead for having not noticed Justinius's careful wording.

At a slow and deliberate pace, Matthieu made his way down the stairs and out of the tower. Once outside, he walked over the little pillar and spit the potion on the flames.

The Beauxbatons students broke into loud applause when their champion retrieved that small golden pyramid first.

Katie Bell and Eric Weathercrest, however, were still battling it out with the acromantulas. The problem that they seemed to be having was that weren't killing many of their opponents. The two champions were severing a leg here and there or simply knocking the great spiders away. The acromantulas, therefore, were able to crawl right back into the fray after a few moments.

"C'mon Eric," Alex started to mutter over and over again under his breath. "You can do this."

Katie Bell finally seemed to have had enough of battling the spiders and went back to sprinting down the stairs. She ran and leapt over the spider blocking her path and then kept running, throwing spells only as necessary to clear her path.

Seeing his rival break into a sprint, Eric attempted to mimic her. Sadly, he wasn't nearly as quick as Katie and had a rougher go of it. After the third time he had to stop, he seemed to reach some sort of decision. A moment's hesitation later, Eric threw himself from the stairs to plummet down the empty space at the center of the tower.

There were shouts and cries as Eric hurtled towards the ground. Marcia screamed before burying her face in Alexander's shoulder and Mrs. Weathercrest covered her mouth in horror.

At the last possible moment before Eric became a greasy spot on the floor of the Southern Watchtower, the blond cast a spell. "_Arresto Momentum_!"

The New England champion's decent slowed rapidly, allowing him to land safely. Although much of the potion had sloshed out of the goblet during the fall, it appeared that at least a little remained.

"He's alright," Alex told Marcia. "He stopped himself."

The Witch looked up, her eyes glistening with tears. "Oh, thank Merlin."

The spiders continued to pursue Eric, but he had no problem outrunning them as he fled the tower. Once outside, Eric extinguished the flames with the remaining potion and retrieved his pyramid.

The New England students broke into wild applause as the Weathercrest heir raised the trinket up for everyone to see.

Marcia tore from the stands and raced down to her love. When the Quodpot player saw the Witch head in his direction, he discarded the pyramid on the ground as though it were a piece of unwanted trash and sprinted to meet her. They ended up slamming into one another near the bottom of the stands, landing in a pile of tangled limbs. They began holding and kissing one another fiercely, to Alexander's great delight.

The Cullen boy let out a loud wolf whistle at the display as he lazily made his way down to congratulate his friend.

The New England students were still cheering for Eric when Katie Bell emerged from the tower not thirty seconds later.

Alexander stood watching as his two friends pawed at one another. Although he'd been thrilled to see them reunite, now he just felt uncomfortable watching them.

"Getting any ideas?" a husky British voice asked him from behind.

The vampire-raised Wizard sighed before turning to look at Cedric. "No," he said firmly.

Cedric flashed the object of his affections a confident smile. Clearly, he wasn't used to meeting such resistance from his conquests.

Alexander just shook his head and started to turn away. As he did, he noticed that the Beauxbatons champion, Matthieu, was watching the interaction between Cedric and himself very carefully, as though he was trying to analyze them in the same way he'd analyzed the Task.

"The judges will now announce the scores for the First Task," Justinius's voice announced.

"For Matthieu Moreau."

Madam Maxime fired a shot from her wand that turned into a '10' above her head, as did Dumbledore. Headmaster Justinius, however, only awarded a '9.' The first champion's total, therefore, was a '29.'

"For Eric Weathercrest."

Eric received a combined score of '21.' This was the result of a '5' from Maxime, and an '8' from both Dumbledore and Justinius.

"For Katie Bell."

Dumbledore gave his pupil a '6.' Maxime gave the girl a '4' while Justinius gave her a '6.' Her total was '16.'

"You're in second place," Marcia said excitedly.

"Yeah." Eric sounded disappointed. "But I'm eight points behind Monroe."

"Moreau," Alexander corrected.

"Whatever."

The bespectacled teen smiled at his reunited friends before pocketing his omnioculars so that Emmett could watch the first task later using the device's replay function.

A/N: Just a quick note for the people that missed it last chapter and were confused. The Cullens know that Alex has a summer birthday because Carlisle, great doctor that he is, was able to deduce the boy's approximate age when he was adopted. They choose to _celebrate_ the birthday on the anniversary of when he became part of the family. This is why he has been consistently referred to as a sixteen-year-old since the start of the story but didn't have the party for it until October.


	11. Chapter 11

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 11: Ten: Riot**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Ten – Riot**

The month of November was much like the much of October, in Alex Cullen's opinion. The weather was bit colder and his friends were on better terms, but he was still amazingly busy.

One major change, however, was his relationship with Edward. The vampire had been increasingly distant for weeks. He rarely interacted with the boy. The Wizard honestly couldn't remember the last time Edward had been waiting for him when he'd return home from school. Alexander wasn't quite sure what the cause was, but he was fairly certain that he'd done something to offend his adoptive brother greatly.

The distance was upsetting Alex to the point that he only picked at his meals most days and was having trouble sleeping. There were times when his eyes would sting and water for no apparent reason. And his chest ached terribly, as though someone had stabbed him and created a terrible but invisible wound that was slowly spreading. It often felt as though the wound would spread and consume Alexander entirely.

Whenever Alexander got up in the morning, he had to force a smile on his face so as not to worry his other family members. The Occlumency that he was still practicing on a daily basis should, in theory, keep his upset from Edward's notice. And Jasper, he believed, simply wouldn't care enough to share his insights into the matter with anyone. That is, if Jasper could even read his emotions. The fundamental principle of all Occlumency was to empty one's mind of emotion. Once his mind was clear, the boy would focus on creating barriers around his mind. Whether Jasper could detect his emotions behind those barriers was a mystery to the teen.

Hell, whether Occlumency was effective at all against either Edward or Jasper's powers was still a total mystery.

As he walked across the courtyard towards the central administrative office, Alexander felt like a golem or homunculus—a mere imitation of a human being.

The Cullen Wizard was lost in his own thoughts and not paying attention to his surroundings when a red spell flew past his nose. Alex was fazed for only a moment before he drew his wand and began to try and figure out what was going on. He was shocked to discover that a fight had broken out in the space between the girl's dormitory hall and the central building.

Actually, 'fight' would probably be too lenient a word to describe the conflict. 'Melee' or 'riot' would be more accurate.

There were just under a dozen students involved in the three-way battle, all red-faced and throwing spells back and forth at each other. There were, however, several dozen students from the three schools standing around viewing the spectacle.

On one side of the triangular battleground was a group of four Slytherin boys. Alexander recognized the lead Wizard as Blaise Zabini, the Hogwarts student who had been sitting next to Cirilla at the First Task. He was flanked by two behemoth boys and was backed up by a large Witch whose jaw jutted out in an aggressive manner.

The second side of the conflict was composed of the three Potter children and Draco Malfoy. While Draco and Cara Potter were hurling nasty hexes at every opportunity, Jonathan seemed primarily concerned with keeping Charles out of the fight all together. Charles, for his part, sent Tickling Charms and other minor spells at Zabini whenever the opportunity to bypass his older brother presented itself.

The third and final side of the conflict was composed of the three Gryffindor boys that Eric had fallen in with during his separation from Marcia. While the first two groups seemed to be pretty set on fighting with just one another, the third group was trying to take on everyone at once. Their presence seemed to have turned a two-way fight between rival groups into pure chaos. A free-for-all contest of magic.

The Cullen boy ran towards the conflict, hoping to be able to talk some sense into the combatants and end the riot diplomatically.

As the vampire-raised Wizard neared the mass of insanity, he saw a spell from the sandy-haired Gryffindor Wizard graze Cara Potter's left arm, drawing blood as it created an approximately three-inch gash. Jonathan Potter, seeing his sister injured, stopped acting on the defensive and instead started throwing everything he had at his fellow Gryffindors.

Seemingly from out of nowhere, Cormac McLaggen entered the fight. Presumably, he had been watching from the sidelines until he was enraged by someone attacking his lover interest.

Cormac didn't bother with magic at all; he tackled Cara's attacker and began to beat on him with his bare fists. The younger Gryffindor made several attempts to get away, but didn't make any progress.

The redheaded Gryffindor, seeing his friend in peril, launched a spell at McLaggen. The wiry-haired Wizard rolled off of his now-bloodied opponent, avoiding the spell easily.

The dark-red hex flew through the air, narrowly missing Charles Potter's neck by an inch. When the spell hit the ground, it carved several deep gashes into the otherwise perfectly manicured lawn.

Alexander saw red. The redheaded boy had launched a _Slashing Hex_ at Charles, a boy at least three years younger and eighteen inches shorter than himself. If it had made contact with the Hufflepuff's neck, there was a decent chance that the boy would have died before help showed up.

With a jab and then a flick of his blood red wand, Alex levitated the downed Gryffindor that McLaggen had been grappling with into the air. In the next instant, the teen was careening helplessly towards his redheaded friend. The other Gryffindor didn't risk trying to defend himself with magic for fear of harming his ally, so dropped to the ground to avoid the impact. By the time he had righted himself, Alexander had joined the fray properly.

"A _Slashing Hex_ at a thirteen-year-old?" Alex demanded as he threw a stunner at his opponent. "Try picking on someone your own size!"

"My own size?" the British teen laughed haughtily as he repelled the stunner. "Really, pipsqueak?"

Charles attempted to join in the fight, but Alex forced him out of the conflict all together and into the crowd with a short, careless flick of his wand. The Hufflepuff landed on his feet well out of the combat zone.

The ginger Wizard lobbed a spell of his own back at Alex.

The New Englander dodged out of the way, easily avoiding the attack. Alexander realized at that moment that there was a very good chance that he was outclassed here. Although he'd studied a great many spells that would be useful in a duel, he'd never _actually_ dueled anyone before. In fact, he'd never been in a real fight of any kind.

Unless debating counted. And Alex was pretty sure it didn't.

Knowing that he's have to be a bit creative to stand a chance against the taller boy—who clearly had some experience in fighting by magical means—Alex pointed his wand at the dirt that had been dislodged from the ground by the earlier Slashing Hex. At Alex's silent command, the rubble rose into the air and then melded together to form a shining shield that attached itself to its creator's free hand. The black-haired boy used the crude piece of metalwork to protect himself from his opponent's spells while throwing his own, less complex spells without fear of being injured.

The Gryffindor managed to crack the shield, but actually breaking it seemed to be beyond his abilities. At least, it was too much for him to do while trying to protect against Alexander's seemingly endless stream of simple stunners.

Switching back and forth between trying to hex Alexander and repel his spells proved to be tiring for the Gryffindor. After only a few seconds, the larger teen began to develop trouble with his timing; each stunner came close and closer to hitting home. Alexander waited for the appropriate moment before disarming the Gryffindor with a simple cry of "_Expelliarmus_!"

Alex considered throwing another stunner at the boy for good measure, but didn't have a chance. With a hard wrench, his wand arm was twisted painfully behind his back by an unknown attacker. The piece of wood slipped through the boy's fingers as he did his best not to cry out in sudden shock and pain.

Although Alexander had never been in a real fight, he had seen a number of playful sparring matches between his siblings. There was one maneuver that Jasper had a particular tendency to use on Emmett whenever the larger vampire took hold of him from behind in the way Alexander' attacker had just done to him.

As hard as he could, the Cullen boy threw his head back into the face of his attacker. There was an awful crunching sound as Alex's head exploded in pain.

The attacker immediately released Alex as the younger teen clenched his eyes shut in pain. When he opened them and turned to look up at the other combatant from where he landed on the ground, the Wizard was horrified to find that he'd just broken Eric's nose.

The blond Quodpot player was holding his broken and bleeding nose in his hands and cursing loudly.

"Damn it!" the injured boy shouted. "Damn it! Son of a-"

Alexander intended on doing something to help his injured friend when Cara Potter jumped onto the New England Champion's back and began to hit and scratch at him until he fell to the ground.

The green-eyed Wizard was totally stunned by Eric's involvement in the mess. He didn't have time to do anything, though, before the Aurors that were providing security for the Tournament finally arrived to put an end to the chaos. A few minutes later, Alexander found himself being hauled off to Headmaster Justinius's office alongside Eric.

The Aurors left the pair alone in a very tense silence. Alexander was, not for the first time, stuck by the unprofessional habits of the dark wizard catchers. Who in their right mind would allow two teenage Wizards who, mere minutes before, had been in a fight with one another to sit alone in an office _with their wands_?

Eric sat quietly cursing. He was using a handkerchief to soak up the blood that was still pouring from his nose. The Champion had also bleeding from a large number of scratches that Cara Potter's nails had produced when she'd had him down on the ground.

Cara Potter, it seemed, was the real fighter of the family.

Despite his irritation at his friend—which burst to new life ever time his arm throbbed—Alexander felt guilty about breaking the other boy's nose. He pulled out his wand and moved to point it at Eric's face.

"Whoa now," Eric started defensively.

"I was just going to fix your nose," the Cullen boy explained.

The bleach blond looked somewhat nervous, but nodded his consent after a second of mulling it over.

"_Episkey_," Alex cast quietly.

With a crackling and then a popping sound, Eric's nose repaired itself.

Alexander then went about healing the scratches his friend had received and cleaning up the blood that was staining the other boy's clothes. "So, you gonna tell me why my arm is bruised?"

"Sorry," Eric said somewhat sheepishly. "I thought you were going to really hurt Ron."

"That would be the asshole who tried to murder Charles Potter?"

"He didn't try to-"

"Okay, maybe not murder. But he still almost killed him. If his _Slashing Hex_ had been any closer . . ."

"Yeah, that was pretty dumb," Eric conceded. "He was just trying to get at Malfoy was all."

"I don't care. He'll be arrested if it's the last thing I ever do," Alex stated with firm resolve.

"You don't understand," the Quodpot captain protested.

"Then explain it to me."

Eric was indecisive for a moment. "Alright, but you gotta promise not to tell anyone."

"Headmaster Justinius is probably on his way to expel us as we speak," Alex snapped. "I'll tell anyone anything I damn well feel like."

Alexander's friend slumped in his chair. "Malfoy's dad got Ron's sister committed."

"Say what?"

"Malfoy's dad slipped Ron's sister, Ginny, some really dark artifact back in her first year. It made her do a lot of really bad shit. Even though Dumbledore eventually got the artifact away from her, several students had been hurt by Ginny under the thing's influence. Malfoy managed to get the Ministry of Magic to send her a hospital. He said that the artifact had messed up her head and that until they were certain there was no permanent damage, she couldn't be trusted around other kids.

"The Healers said the artifact's influence was like the Imperius Curse; they couldn't be sure if she was still affected or not. And Dumbledore wouldn't let them have the artifact, so Ginny had to stay committed."

"So that excuses that idiot throwing a potentially lethal spell at a third-year?"

"No!" Eric cried. "Listen, the fight was caused by Malfoy mouthing off about Ron's 'crazy little sister.' Ron and his buddies went after Malfoy and everyone else just got involved from there. The Potters tried to protect Malfoy and the Slytherins got involved because they hate Malfoy too and, apparently, thought it would be a good opportunity to get at him. Before anyone could do anything to stop it, things just went nuts."

"And after I disarmed Ron, you wanted to make sure I didn't really hurt him because you sympathized with his reason for attacking Malfoy in the first place," Alexander concluded.

"Yeah. But mostly I didn't want you to get in any more trouble than you had already gotten yourself into."

"You're an idiot. You realize that, right?" Alex had a small smile on his face, telling Eric that he wasn't going to hold a grudge.

The young mister Weathercrest grinned back at his friend. "I can't believe a big 'fraidy-cat like you actually jumped into a fight."

"Neither can I," Alex confessed. "I am _so_ going to be grounded when I get home."

The pair was laughing when Headmaster Justinius entered. The old Wizard frowned at his pupils and their apparent lack of respect for the severity of the situation. "I assure you, boys. There is nothing funny about what has happened."

"Sorry, sir," the two younger Wizards said in unison.

"I've been put into quite the difficult spot by all this," Justinius said as he sat behind his desk. He stroked his short beard in contemplation. "By all rights, I should suspend both of you and revoke all of your privileges for the rest of the academic year. Including your ability to participate in school activities."

That, Alexander realized, meant that his presidency was bout to end. Again. He had a horrible sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"But, I can't very well give the two of you different punishments."

"What do you mean?" Eric asked in confusion.

"Your participation in the Tournament, Mister Weathercrest. I cannot forbid you from taking part in school activities because you are obligated to see the Triwizard Tournament to the end. Nor can I suspend you because the rules of the Tournament require you to be a student at this school from the moment your name came out of the Goblet of Fire until the awards ceremony in May," Headmaster Justinius explained.

"I cannot let your actions go unpunished, but I can't give you the punishments you deserve either. So, the question is: what can I do with the two of you?"

Quite suddenly, the door burst open and a breathless Cedric Diggory entered the room.

"What is the meaning of this?" the old Wizard demanded.

"H-Headmaster . . . just defending . . . not his f-fault . . ."

"Slow down. Take a deep breath and then explain," Justinius ordered in exasperation.

Diggory took several deep breaths, straightening his disheveled clothes at the same time. "I was interviewing the witnesses," he said. After stopping for a moment to take another deep breath and swallowing hard, he continued. "They said that Alex Cullen only entered the fight after Ronald Weasley almost killed Charles Potter with a Slashing Hex. And then, he only disarmed Weasley."

Justinius leveled his gaze on Alex. "Is this true?"

Before Alex could answer, Eric broke in. "It is, sir. Alex only disarmed Ron."

"What about your nose, Mister Weathercrest?"

"I wrongly thought he was going to do more and get himself into trouble, so I grabbed him from behind. I startled him and he accidentally broke my nose when he tried to get free," the blond lied smoothly.

The headmaster looked skeptical. "Mister Cullen?" he pressed.

Alexander had never been very comfortable with lying to authority figures like the headmaster, but he managed to control his nerves as he nodded his head in agreement with the partially untrue version of events.

"Well then . . . I can't in good conscience punish you for disarming a would-be assassin. Nor can I punish you for a mere accident," Justinius said, his eyes straying to Eric's face for a moment. He didn't sound entirely convinced about that version of events he'd just been told, but he accepted it. "I will, of course, have to report this incident to your parents, you understand."

"Yes, sir," Alex said.

There went his driving privileges.

"I suppose you are both free to go," Justinius said. "Though I will add this warning: if either of you puts so much as a toe out of line, I will see to it that this is your last year at my school. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Alex and Eric answered in unison once more before quickly leaving the room.

Once the door to the headmaster's office was shut, Eric started laughing pretty hard. Alex, however, felt like he was going to be sick all over the new shoes Alice had bought for him.

"Man, we owe you," the Champion said to Cedric Diggory.

The Auror-in-training flashed a grin at Alex. "Enough to go to the Yule Ball with me?"

Eric looked like someone splashed him with cold water. He looked back and forth between Alexander and Cedric several times.

"I would go with you if I could," Alex answered uncomfortably. "You'll be working security with the other Aurors, remember?"

"How about a dance then?" Diggory asked hopefully. "C'mon, just one dance?"

Alexander took a deep breath. "Fine. One dance."

Cedric grinned in victory. "Great! Well, I've, uh, got to get back to the clean-up outside. Don't forget: you owe me one slow dance." He then sped off.

"I didn't agree to a _slow _dance!" Alex called after him. "Cedric!"

Eric started laughing almost maniacally. "I can't believe it, dude. You flirted your way out of a suspension."

"I did not."

"Fine, maybe you didn't flirt. But you did get out of trouble because the wannabe Auror wants to bang you."

"You are such a perv," Alexander snapped in frustration before the duo left the central campus building.

As expected, Alexander was grounded until Christmas. His cell phone had been confiscated, he wasn't allowed to go on any long walks away from the house, he had to return home immediately after school and do all of his extracurricular work from home, and his driving lessons were put on hold until the new year. Those were just a few amongst his many restrictions.

Esme had been furious that Alexander had gotten into a fight at school. Though, admittedly, not nearly as furious as Edward had been. The mindreader talked for days after the event about how foolish it was and how Alexander could have gotten himself seriously injured.

Alexander knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help feeling a little bit of satisfaction over the way Edward fussed over him.

Emmett, however, was thrilled that his little brother had gotten into a scrape. At least, until he learned that Alex had used one of Jasper's moves instead of one of his. It could have been the mortal's imagination, but he was fairly sure he'd seen the empath give him an approving grin when he'd let that little detail slip.

The fact that Alexander and Eric had gotten off scot-free had been a big topic of conversation around campus for several days after the riot. Many different versions of the fight circulated about. One version had Alexander performing great feats of magic that only the greatest of Wizards could have performed. Another version said that Eric and Alex fought each other for so long that they both just collapsed from exhaustion when it was all over. Yet a third had Alexander playing the damsel-in-distress role with Eric coming to save him from three angry Gryffindors.

Each new tail was more spectacular, outlandish, and far from the truth than the last.

Reynolds and Cirilla had been furious about the whole thing, both loudly decrying the unfairness of the duo escaping punishment. Particularly in light of the fact that Zabini's Slytherins and Weasley's Gryffindors had been severely punished with detentions and the loss of 'house points.'

Alexander would have gladly been suspended or even expelled if it meant Weasley would have been prosecuted for his near-killing of Charles Potter.

The Potters and Draco Malfoy weren't punished, as they were only defending themselves in the whole mess. That, however, had resulted in a fair bit of bad press for Dumbledore as many in Great Britain already believed he unfairly favored the Potter children.

Also of interest, Alexander received a short note by owl the day after the riot.

While sitting at his desk in the Student Government Office, he heard a tapping on his window. After opening the window and retrieving the letter in the owl's talons. The letter was addressed to 'Alexander Cullen, New England Academy of Magic.'

'_Dear Mister Cullen,_

'_My children have told me about your brave defense of my youngest son, Charles, during the recent bout of violence. I owe you a huge debt of gratitude for saving his life that, I fear, may never be fully repaid. I cannot express to you in words the depths of which I am thankful that you were able to protect my little boy and that he has found such an excellent and brave friend and role model as you._

'_Should you ever need anything from me or my family, you have but to ask._

'_Warm regards,_

'_Lily Potter'_


	12. Chapter 12

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 12: Eleven: Yuletide**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Eleven – Yuletide**

December brought new forms of torture into Alexander Cullen's life.

His grounding had ensured that he did nothing fun. No driving lessons. No video games. No talking on his cell phone.

The last of the listed restrictions was particularly difficult for Alexander because it meant that he couldn't talk to Jacob Black. The other boy had no forewarning that Alex would be unable to talk to him, so he probably believed that he'd been abandoned by his friend. Alex had considered mentioning that little detail to his parents, but had opted not to. His friendship with the Quileute boy was a secret and risked the coven's treaty with the La Push residents. Telling his parents that he needed to let the other boy know that he couldn't contact him would reveal the forbidden friendship. And likely Edward's knowledge of it.

The thought of the mindreader brought new pains to Alexander's heart. It was bad enough that he was struggling to understand just what his feelings for the vampire were exactly, but Edward had made it abundantly clear over the past few weeks that he wanted virtually nothing to do with the mortal.

For the life of him, Alexander couldn't figure out what had prompted Edward's change in attitude. Edward had remained almost totally indifferent towards Alexander since almost the beginning to the Tournament. The only exceptions seemed to be his warm attitude on Alex's birthday and his angry yet concerned attitude in the days following the fight at school.

What could Alexander have done that could totally destroy the strong bond he had had with the bronze-haired vampire? Had Edward perhaps heard the green-eyed boy's conflicted thoughts about him months earlier, become uncomfortable, and then decided to cut the boy out of his life entirely?

What did Edward now think of the future? Did the idea of Alexander becoming a vampire and a permanent fixture in the coven upset him?

The fact that Alexander was grounded meant that he had massive amounts of time to dwell on these things. And the more he dwelled, the more depressed and irritable he became.

The Yule Ball, formerly a huge annoyance, was now becoming a welcome distraction.

His parents had decided to allow him to attend the ball because it was a major event at the school that Alexander was responsible for planning. Were it not for the fact that he was personally responsible for planning the thing, he almost assuredly would have been forbidden from going.

In the last week before the ball, Alexander's time was devoted to all of the last minute details. Amongst these details was preparing for his promised dance with Cedric Diggory.

Alexander had known how to dance since he was little. Although not something he enjoyed, it was something that both his mother and his father felt he should know how to do. And, given what significant role music had played in his life when he was younger, it only seemed natural that the boy should learn how to move to it gracefully.

He already knew how to lead, so the new challenge was in learning how to follow.

Several afternoons were spent with Alice playing the role of Cedric Diggory, moving Alex around a makeshift dance floor in the boy's room. He could have practiced upstairs, but was so embarrassed about the promise to dance with Diggory that he wanted as few witnesses to his lessons as possible.

The Cullen boy was the first one in the Dining Hall on Christmas Eve. He arrived early in the afternoon to oversee the final preparations for the ball personally. He ensured that all of the decorations were in place, that the kitchens were preparing the appropriate food in the appropriate quantities, and the stage was set up to the specifications of the band that had been hired.

The massive windows of the Dining Hall had been enchanted so that, rather than showing the darkened campus, they displayed a snow-covered glade somewhere in the mountains. The ceiling had been enchanted to appear like the sky during a winter's snow. The latter idea had been drawn from descriptions of Hogwarts' magnificent Great Hall.

Most of the tables in the large Dining Hall had been cleared away to make room for the dance floor. Far fewer tables were needed as dinner wouldn't be served at the ball, only hors d'oeurvres. The dance floor was surrounded by elegant ice sculptures of various magical creatures that had been enchanted to not melt in the comfortable temperature of the Hall and the staff table had been removed to make way for the stage.

The combination of illusions and decorations made Alexander feel that he was actually standing in the middle of an elegant party that had been set out amidst a winter wonderland.

After he was certain that everything was set up as it should be, Alexander went up to his shared office and changed into his dress robes. Alice had picked a set of stately black robes accented with various shades of green that the vampire believed would accentuate his best feature: his green eyes. She had also forced him to wear contact lenses rather than his usual tinted glasses.

Upon returning to the hall, Alexander promptly ran into Charles Potter. Although the Yule Ball was traditionally only for fourth year students and above, the decision had been made to allow all students to attend since all of the students of the visiting schools were forced to reside at the New England Academy for the Tournament.

The redheaded boy immediately greeted Alexander his usual, exuberant way. "Alex!"

"Hello, Charles. You look very dashing this evening," Alex complimented with forced cheerfulness.

Charles Potter was wearing very traditional dress robes that were accented with Hufflepuff yellow. He smiled broadly at Alexander's words, as though he'd received a very high complement from the Minister of Magic himself.

"Don't flatter him," a new British voice interrupted. "He'll get a swollen head."

Alexander turned to look at Cara Potter. Her red hair was out of its typical ponytail and she was dressed in a very pale lavender dress that sparkled around her waist as though accented with diamonds. The effect, Alexander quickly realized, was the result of a charm.

Cara and Alex had only spoken twice. The first time was at the Welcome Dinner and the second was a week after the big fight on campus. The second conversation had only been so that Cara could properly thank Alex for protecting her brother during the small riot.

"So should I tell you that you look lovely, or is it better that I don't risk giving _you_ a big head?"

The Potter Witch laughed. "So you came—what is the word?—stag?"

"Yes," Alexander answered. "Though I've promised a dance to someone. What about you?"

"Cormac is meeting me, but we aren't officially here together."

The pair continued to make small talk for several minutes as the other guests arrived a handful at a time. Charles interjected a sentence or two here and there and, although his statements were often unimportant or outright off topic, Alex was careful to pay attention to the younger teen and make him feel included.

After around twenty minutes, the time finally came for the party to start properly. Headmaster Justinius walked out into the center of the dance floor and began to address the partygoers.

"Good evening everyone, and welcome to the Yule Ball. This is a time-honored tradition of the Triwizard Tournament and one of the highlights of the entire competition. To open the ball with the first dance, may I present your Champions and their escorts."

When the headmaster finished speaking, the two sets of doors on either side of the stage swung open dramatically.

The champions entered the Dining Hall through the right door and their escorts entered through the left. Each pair met in front of the center of the stage, locked arms, and then proceeded down the center of the hall onto the dance floor amidst the applause of the audience.

Matthieu Moreau and his date, a pretty blond girl that Alexander had seen around campus wearing Beauxbatons uniform, entered first. Eric and Marcia were next and Katie Bell and Jonathan Potter entered last.

All three of the guys wore very traditional dress robes, even Eric. Moreau's were accented with Beauxbatons blue, Potter's were accented in Gryffindor red, and Eric's were accented with a mixture of white and ivory. The dates all wore dresses that matched the accents of their respective Champions.

After the Champions and their dates were in position, the band began to play a slow song to open the ball. The Beauxbatons students were amazingly elegant dancers and moved about the dance floor with an almost inhuman grace. Katie and Jonathan were decent dancers, but were nowhere as skilled as Matthieu and his date.

Eric and Marcia's dancing was . . . interesting to say the least. Eric accidentally stepped on his girlfriend's foot only a few second in. She responded by intentionally stomping on his foot so hard that the Champion almost cried out of pain. He then twirled her so hard that her hair fell from its carefully crafted style. When Marcia came out of the twirl, she allowed a seemingly limp arm to smack Eric hard on the chest. By the time the first dance ended, the pair was laughing so hard that they could barely hold themselves upright.

Alexander smirked as the pair hobbled his direction. He was about to say something sarcastic about their dancing skills to Cara, but found she'd moved on. Apparently, the Witch hadn't gotten past the urge to cause severe bodily harm to Eric.

The Cullen boy shook his head before regarding his two schoolmates. "I lost count. Who's winning?"

"She is," Eric admitted defeat. "I think she broke my big toe with those heels of hers."

"You started it," Marcia grumbled as she attempted to put her hair back up.

"So, when do we get to see you out on the dance floor?"

Alexander shrugged in response. "I haven't even seen Cedric yet."

"You can dance with other people, you know," the Witch pointed out.

"I'm happier as a wallflower," the young Wizard confessed. "I've never really enjoyed dancing."

"Haven't you been dancing your whole life?" Eric questioned.

"I've had lessons. But it was also just something I had to know, not something I wanted to know."

The trio didn't talk for very long; Eric and Marcia were, for some unfathomable reason, eager to return to the dance floor for another round of assaulting one another and so Alex was left to his own devices. Not really interested in the ball all that much, he went about the room checking on the decorations. Even if he had been interested in dancing, he wasn't sure he could relax and have fun at a party where he was entirely responsible for almost every little detail.

He was inspecting the charms on a centaur ice sculpture when Cedric Diggory finally made his appearance. The British Wizard was wearing robes very similar to Charles, suggesting that he too had been a Hufflepuff. Aside from the obvious difference of size, Cedric's robes also had the emblem of the British Ministry of Magic—a large 'M' bisected by a wand—embroidered on the right breast.

"Sorry I'm late, I was on guard duty outside of the party," the Auror-in-training explained.

"No problem," Alex replied. "I was just checking on a few things."

"Do you ever stop working?"

"No," the Cullen Wizard smirked. "Do you ever work?"

The gray-eyed boy laughed. "Of course I do. I spend loads of time helping troublemakers get out of tight spots."

"And then you demand payment," Alex added.

"Well, a bloke has to do what a bloke has to do. Now, about that dance." Cedric extended his hand to the object of his affection and, once Alex had taken it, pulled the younger Wizard out onto the dance floor.

Alexander was acutely aware of the number of eyes that were watching him as he was pulled towards the center of the room at the start of another slow song. There was pointing, a little bit of giggling, and some very slack-jawed expressions. He felt his face blush horribly at the thought that he was now the center of attention.

Cedric positioned the American's hands so that they were resting on his shoulders before settling his own onto the younger boy's hips. Then, once the music began, he began to sway in time. It wasn't what Alexander traditionally thought of as dancing, but it was okay, all things considered.

"You're blushing."

"There are literally hundreds of eyes focused on us right now. How can I not?"

The Hogwarts alumnus chuckled. "You have no idea how many eyes are on you on a regular basis, do you? I had to let slip that you were coming with me to a dozen blokes to keep them from asking you. I thought that Beauxbatons bloke was going to challenge me to a duel over it."

"Beauxbatons bloke?"

"Moreau," Cedric answered. To accentuate his point, he slowly moved the pair around so that Alexander could see the way Matthieu was glaring at the pair. There was something . . . distinctly off about the way the boy was staring at them.

As Alexander was being turned, he also saw Professor Brekenridge smiling broadly at him.

"He's never even spoken to me," Alex mumbled.

Cedric's shoulders raised under the green-eyed boy's hands as the taller Wizard shrugged momentarily. "I just happened to be standing nearby when he was discussing his plans to ask you to the ball with his mates. Decided to burst his bubble."

"You're incorrigible."

"I'm also persistent, if you haven't noticed."

Alexander shook his head. "I don't get it, why me? Half the room would be interested in being involved with you, but you seem to have zeroed in on me since the day we met. Why?"

"Honestly? You intrigue me. Yes, it started off that I was just attracted to you. But as I tried to get you to talk to me, I learned loads about you. You're very kind and loyal. Hardworking. You're everything a Hufflepuff could ever want," Diggory explained sincerely.

Alex thought over the older boy's words as they continued to dance for several more minutes. When the song finally ended, Cedric led him off the dance floor and towards one of the far walls of the Dining Hall.

"Well, that's the one dance you owed me," the British boy said. "Unless you're interested in having another."

The New Englander shook his head. "I don't really care for dancing." He then looked up at the Hufflepuff.

Cedric brought one hand up to rest on Alex's cheek. He locked eyes with Alex and then slowly moved to kiss him.

From the instant Cedric's hand touched his cheek, the Cullen boy was struck by the wrongness of the situation. It wasn't supposed to be Cedric's hand on his cheek; it was supposed to be Edward's. Just like that day in the woods.

It was always supposed to be Edward.

In that moment, many things in Alexander's life suddenly made sense. The way his heart raced around the vampire. The way the distance between them tore at his heart. The way Alexander felt as if there was just no reason to get out of bed in the morning after spending an evening doing homework while Edward avoided any and all contact with him.

It wasn't mere affection that he felt for Edward. He loved him. He was _in_ love with him.

In the split second before Cedric's lips would have connected with his, Alexander turned his head. The result was that the older Wizard ended up kissing him on the cheek.

After only the briefest contact, Cedric ended his attempt at kissing Alexander. His eyes were clenched shut rather than lightly closed and his lips were pressed into a hard line as he pulled his face away. When he opened his gray eyes, he allowed his lips to morph into a sad mockery of a smile.

"It just isn't me, is it? I'm too late. Someone else has your heart."

"Yes," Alexander answered honestly. It may have been the most honest answer he'd given in months.

"I hope he knows how damn lucky he is."

"Cedric . . . I'm sorry. You're a great guy. You came on a little strong, but you seem pretty decent. It just . . ."

"It isn't me," Cedric answered. "You're in love, and it just isn't with me."

"That's right."

The former Hufflepuff sighed heavily and nodded his head a bit before walking off, leaving Alexander alone with his revelation.

Alex turned to look at the party with all of its happy couples. He saw them paired off, laughing and having fun. Many of them madly in love.

"Screw this," he muttered to himself as he left the Dining Hall. He didn't give a damn about the ball or his responsibilities. He didn't care if the enchantments failed everyone ended up dancing around an ordinary room for the rest of the evening.

He cared about going home, fixing things with Edward, and spending Christmas Eve with his loved ones.

The Cullen mortal stormed his way across campus towards the portkey point. He was about halfway there when he heard someone calling his name.

"Alexander Cullen?" the voice almost shouted.

The boy turned to find the reporter with the stiff, curly blonde hair that had been attempting to interview Jonathan Potter at the First Task making her way towards him. "Alexander Cullen, my name is Rita Skeeter. I'm a reporter with the _Daily Prophet_. I wonder if I might have a moment of your time."

"I'm actually on my way home," the boy replied as he continued on his way.

"Well, I'll walk with you. A talented boy such as yourself can walk and talk at the same time, can't he?"

Alex didn't answer. Not that an answer to that sort of question was really expected.

"I wonder, Mister Cullen, if you mind telling my readers why you were so opposed to the Triwizard Tournament being held at your school."

Alexander had read a few of the Witch's articles and knew that not answering the Witch would be just as awful as giving her a bad answer, so he had to craft his response very carefully. "The individuals planning the Tournament initially refused to take on extra precautions to ensure there wasn't any tampering with the Goblet of Fire or to ensure that an underage student wasn't entered into the Tournament."

"Are you referring to when Jonathan Potter entered himself in the last Triwizard Tournament and was somehow selected as a competitor after the three _true_ Champions were selected?"

That, the Wizard knew, was a dangerous question to answer. She would undoubtedly attempt to twist his words into something damaging to Jonathan. His second answer took a few extra seconds to compose. "I am only aware that Jonathan Potter's name was entered into the Goblet of Fire, his name came out of the Goblet, and that he was obligated to compete as a result. I wanted to avoid any situation in which a minor, willing or otherwise, was named a competitor."

"Speaking of Jonathan Potter, I have it on good authority that you meet with him almost every day. Care to comment?"

Alexander was more than a little surprised by that. How in the world did Rita Skeeter know that he and Jonathan met almost every day? Did she know that they were both studying Occlumency and was trying to trap him, or was she just fishing?

"I don't really know how that is any of your business. Or that of your readers," he evaded.

"Well, Jonathan Potter is quite the newsmaker. In fact, I've been working on a special project involving him for quite some time. I was hoping that you'd be able to provide a little insight into what the public doesn't see on a regular basis."

"Doubtful. Jonathan is a fan of Quidditch. I'm a fan of Quodpot. We're each trying to show the other what our sport of choice has to offer. I really doubt that 'Jonathan Potter: Quidditch Fan' is a headline that will cause your paper to go flying off the shelves."

"I see," Rita replied. Her tone of voice didn't reveal whether she knew she was being lied to or not.

The pair were now almost in sight of the portkey site. Alexander started to walk a little bit faster in order to end the impromptu interview faster.

To his surprise, Rita didn't ask any more questions. He turned around midstride and found that she was gone, as though she'd just disappeared from the island all together.

The Cullen boy frowned before continuing on home.

Alexander surprised everyone with how early he'd returned. He quickly explained that he wasn't all that interested in the ball anyway. He'd fulfilled his obligation to dance one dance and had left.

Alice and Esme insisted on taking a few pictures of Alex in his dress robes before he was allowed to change into something more comfortable. He then spent the evening describing the whole affair in as much detail as possible. Alex, of course, neglected to mention either his near kiss with Cedric Diggory or his encounter with the obnoxious reporter.

Silently, Alexander bided his time until he could get Edward alone and begin to repair whatever damage had been done to their relationship. Even if Edward would never return his feelings, Alexander was determined to have the vampire in his life; he couldn't live in a world where he didn't at least have the immortal as a friend.

The opportune moment came after Alice and Jasper retired to their room for the rest of the night. By that point, Rosalie and Emmett were snuggled together on one of the sofas that were positioned around the television, too wrapped up in one another to notice anything that was going on around them. And Esme and Carlisle had gone to their room to finish wrapping Christmas presents.

Edward got up from his seat in the living room and walked out the back door onto the patio, likely to avoid being trapped with only Alexander to talk to. Regardless of his motivations, the mortal followed him.

"You're awfully quiet tonight," Alex observed.

Edward looked over at the Wizard momentarily before turning back towards the forest. "I have some things on my mind." He fell silent for a few seconds. "I'm sorry that you did not enjoy your evening very much."

Alex moved so that he was standing directly next to Edward. "I love spending time with my family."

"I meant the ball."

"I know. I got through the bad part of the evening as quickly as possible so that I could get to the good part," Alex said before changing the subject. "Do you remember when I was little and I'd leave cookies and milk out for Santa?"

The corners of Edward's lips curled up in a smile. "Yes."

"When I work up in the morning, all that would be left was a single half-eaten cookie. After I figured out that it was you and not Santa that had eaten them, I remember being so angry at you for fooling me."

Edward's smile grew a bit larger.

"But I never really thanked you for it. I know what eating food is like for you, but you did it anyways. Just to make me happy."

"I did," the vampire confirmed, his voice sounded like the Edward that Alexander was familiar with. "Your happiness means a great deal to me."

Alexander turned to look directly at his brother rather than at the trees. "Edward, I-"

The immortal interrupted him. "It's freezing out here. You should go inside." His voice was no longer warm, but hard and commanding.

Alex swallowed hard. "Yeah, I guess I should."

Without another word, Alexander returned to the house and went down to bed. Once alone in his room, he curled into himself and tried his best to sleep. It was another restless night.


	13. Chapter 13

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 13: Twelve: The Boy in the Picture**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Twelve – The Boy in the Picture**

The winter break was short. Barely any time passed at all before Alexander had to return to classes. Truth be told, he was glad to have something to distract him from the situation with Edward.

The vampire was still avoiding him. Every once in a while, the mortal was able to crack his shell and see a bit of the man he'd fallen in love with. But those times were few and far between. Edward, it seemed, was determined to not have Alexander in his life any more than was absolutely necessary.

On a slightly more upbeat note, Alexander was able to talk to Jacob Black again. When his cell phone privileges had been returned after Christmas, he found that he had over a dozen missed calls and several voice messages from the younger teen. After a long conversation that including a significant amount of groveling on Alex's part, the Quileute forgave him and the two resumed their earlier ritual of calling one another several times a week. Things were awkward for the first couple of conversations, but the ritual normalized surprisingly fast.

There was a little voice in the back of Alexander's mind that said he shouldn't have reinitiated contact. He should have let the friendship die. But, for reason, he just couldn't.

"So what do you think?" Eric asked from his desk in the Student Government Office.

Alexander looked up. He had been so engrossed in his own thoughts that he had no idea what his friend had been talking about for the last several minutes. "I'm . . . not sure?"

The bleach blond Wizard sighed in frustration before reaching into his bag and producing the little golden pyramid that he had gotten in the First Task.

Eric had been procrastinating on figuring out the meaning of the little trinket for months. And, now that the Second Task only a week away, he was becoming desperate. The rules of the tournament, however, were quite clear: no outside assistance. As a result, neither Marcia nor Alexander had provided any help beyond moral support.

"What part of 'no outside assistance' don't you understand?" Alex asked before looking back down at the paperwork he'd been neglecting on his desk.

"C'mon, man. You know that the other Champions are getting help."

"Then the other Champions are cheaters," the younger Wizard answered monotonously.

Eric groused for a few more minutes about how neither his girlfriend nor his best friend was willing to help him out. He really worked at making his situation sound pitiful.

Finally, Alexander's sentimental side got the better of him. "How about this: you go over what you know about the clue aloud and I'll see if I can't nudge you in the right direction."

"If you're gonna help, you should just help."

"If you're gonna complain, I should just leave," the sixth year countered.

"Alright, alright. It's a pyramid."

"Thank you for that earth shattering revelation," Alex said dryly.

Eric glared for a moment before continuing. "Like I said, it's a pyramid. It's made of gold. There are no markings on the outsides. And when I press on the four sides at the same time, it gives me a riddle."

That last little tidbit caught Alexander's attention. "Riddle? You never mentioned a riddle before."

"I just found that out last night. I have to really push all four sides at once to make it say anything."

"Have you tried answering it?"

"Yes," the seventeen-year-old answered. "It doesn't do anything; doesn't matter if I'm right or wrong."

"How do you know that?"

"I thought I had the answer to one of the riddles. I kept saying the answer, but the damn thing wouldn't do anything. So I looked the riddle up on the Internet and found out I was wrong about the answer. I gave it the right one, but it still didn't do anything."

"'One of the riddles'? There are more than one?" the Cullen wizard questioned.

"Yeah. I thought that the answer to the riddle would tell me what I'm up against. But the ones I've figured out are all different. Fire, water, silence . . . It's all just random stuff."

"Hmmm . . . "

"What?"

"Well, I'd say you want to know the answers to all of the riddles before the Tournament."

"No shit," Eric said. "I was able to look most of them up, but there are still a handful that I haven't figured out yet."

Alexander Cullen watched the other teen play around with the little pyramid. A thought occurred to him.

"There is a theme you seem to be missing, Eric."

"What?"

"C'mon, you can figure it out. Riddles. Pyramids. Magic. What do they have in common?"

The Weathercrest heir contemplated the three things, but didn't come up with anything.

Alexander reached into his bag and pulled out his wand and began to play with it. He held it in one hand and tapped it impatiently against the top of his desk. Then, he held it so that one end was in each hand and put it behind his head, stretching in the process.

After watching Alex play with the wand for bit, Eric got the hint that it had something to do with the boy's wand. "Red. Hemlock. Ash, or was it cedar?" He sighed once more in frustration as he tried to recall everything he knew about his friend's wand. "Your wand . . ." Eric began cautiously, "has a sphinx feather core.

Finally, the champion became quite excited. "That's the common element! The sphinx! The sphinx is a magical creature that is native to Egypt that loves to tell riddles."

"Bingo."

"So I have to face a sphinx. Or maybe, I have to face more than one sphinx," Eric murmured to himself. "More than one, that would make sense. There are multiple riddles, after all."

"Don't say I didn't give you any help," Alex said with a smile as he got up from his desk and headed towards the door. "Actually, on second thought, say that I _didn't_. I don't want to piss off the headmaster any more than I already have."

"Where you going?" Eric asked as he watched his friend make for the door.

"Just out for a walk. I'm tired of doing paperwork," the black-haired Wizard answered as he left the office.

It was the middle of January. Alexander loved this time of year because of how beautiful the campus looked covered in ice and snow. As he slowly made his way towards the library, he took the time to admire the way the trees looked more like ice sculptures than foliage.

"Hey Alex," the friendly voice of Jonathan Potter interrupted his moment of quiet. The tall, hazel-eyed teen bounded his way across campus towards his fellow studier of Occlumency.

"Hi," Alexander greeted in response. "What are you up to?"

"I was actually on my way to see you. It's time for our daily book exchange," Jonathan explained. He then produced the copy of _Occlumency: Mind over Magic_ from his bag and made to hand it to Alex.

"No thanks," the younger Wizard refused. "I think I've gotten all I can from the book."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, I'm no master or anything, but I think I learned what I wanted to."

It was partially true. Alexander believed that he'd gone as far as he could with a book alone. But more than that, he felt like there was no longer a need. Either Edward knew what he was thinking or he didn't.

Jonathan returned the book to his bag. "Well, I guess that makes things easier. Not having to trade the book back and forth every day and all."

"So, is Katie nervous about the Second Task?" Alexander changed the subject.

The Potter boy shrugged. "She's was a little stressed, but seems to have calmed down. What about Weathercrest?"

Alex laughed. "Just the opposite."

Before the discussion of the Second Task could proceed any further, Cara Potter arrived in a frantic state. Several strands of her red hair had come out of her ponytail and she breathing heavily.

"She wrote a book!" she shouted at her brother as she came to a hard stop by the pair of Wizards. She then shoved a copy of a newspaper in her brother's face.

"Rita Skeeter," the Witch spat, still trying to catch her breath. "She's written a book on our family."

Jonathan was silent as he read through the article.

Alexander had a momentary flash of panic as he realized that he'd forgotten to tell the Potters that Rita Skeeter had attempted to interview him after the Yule Ball. Wanting to find out as quickly as possible whether his statements to the reporter had caused any damage, the green-eyed Wizard moved to stand next to Jonathan and read the paper at the same time as him.

It was in no way surprising to Alexander to find out that the newspaper was the _Daily Prophet_. Nor was he surprised to see that the headline was 'Skeeter to Publish Potter Bio.'

What was a little surprising was that the article was less of an actual article as much as it was a transcript of a question and answer session between Skeeter and a fellow reporter at the paper. Alexander skimmed the article to try and catch up with the other teen. Although Skeeter talked a lot in the article, she didn't really say much. She mostly gave veiled references to controversy and revelations about the Potter family.

The book wasn't just a biography of Jonathan Potter, it was about the entire family. Skeeter said that it would provide the world with an in-depth look at what the Potters' lives had been like during the time that they were hiding from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. It would also, she promised, provide information about a major family secret that had been hidden for the last two years.

'_Oh yes, the family has been hiding a very dark secret about the Boy-Who-Lived. You'll have to read the book to get the whole story, of course. But I've uncovered the cause of all of the boy's funny turns. You know, the rumors about bizarre visions and headaches._'

Before Alexander could read anymore on the topic, Jonathan ripped the paper open and began to read where the story continued on the inside.

When Jonathan turned the page, however, Alexander stopped reading. The page he turned to had a moving black and white picture on it that caused all of the air to leave his lungs. It was like someone punched him in the gut.

"I can't believe this," Jonathan muttered darkly. "That stupid bint is going to write about our entire family. Even Grandpa Charlus."

"It's already been published," Cara said in fury. "It's going on sale the week after next."

The Potter siblings continued to talk to one another in panicked tones, but very few of the words made it to Alexander. He was still staring, eyes wide, at the picture in the paper.

After a couple of minutes, Cara angrily ripped the paper from her brother's hands, accidentally giving him a papercut in the process. She then balled the paper up, and then threw it on the ground.

"I hate her," Cara said viciously. "I hate her, I hate her, I hate her," she repeated over and over again. "She is always making trouble. First Moony, and then Hagrid, and all of those other rotten stories. And now a _book_?" she cried in incredulity.

Jonathan was sucking on his paper cut. "We need to see if Dumbledore will let us floo Mum and Dad," he told his sister before turning to Alex. "We've got to go. I'll see you around."

The Potter twins ran off, so involved in their own crisis that they didn't realize that Alexander was having one of his own. He remained standing perfectly still, his feet fixed to the same spot of concrete that he had been standing in when he first saw the picture.

After several very long moments, he picked up the balled-up newspaper and returned to the Student Government Office.

"Did you have a nice walk?" Eric asked when his friend entered.

"Yeah," Alex answered absently. "I'm not feeling well, so I'm going to head out for the day," he told the Champion as he gathered up his things to leave.

"You need to see the nurse?"

"No. My dad will check me out later."

When Alexander returned home, he rushed to get to his room. In the process of running through the house, he left his shoes, bag, and winter jacket in a trail behind him as he made his way to his room.

Once in his room, the mortal rushed to his bookshelf and began pulling down the photo albums that Alice and Jasper had given him for his birthday. He needed the second one with him in it; the one that would have pictures of him from when he was about two-and-a-half years old. He found the appropriate picture at the same time he heard his mother call out to him.

"Alex!" Her voice was heavy with concern. Evidently, the way he'd carelessly left his things on the main floor of the house had worried her. "Alex!" she called again, this time much closer to the top of the stairs.

"I'm down here," the boy answered once he'd found his voice.

The vampire matriarch started through the open door at the stairs only to stop very abruptly. "I smell blood."

Alexander was surprised at her statement. He checked himself over to make sure that he wasn't bleeding. Then, he remembered Jonathan's paper cut. He reached over and checked the paper and, sure enough, there was a small red stain on the edge of the page with the offending picture.

Fortunately, the tiny drop of blood all the way down in the basement wouldn't be enough for his mother to lose control; it was a very minor temptation. Jasper on the other hand . . .

"I'm not hurt," Alex said back, not needing to yell for his mother to hear him. "Go upstairs. I'll be right up."

Once she was sure that her child wasn't in any danger, the vampire fled from the scent of blood, slamming the door at the top of the stairs shut as she went.

The Wizard carefully tore the picture out of the paper and took it, along with the photo album, upstairs to his mother. She was waiting for him at the dining room table.

"Alex," the vampire began, her heart-shaped face evidencing her concern, "you know better than to bring anything with a blood stain on it home. Even when you got into that fight, you were careful to clean everything up."

"I didn't know," the boy replied as he sat down across from his mother.

Esme watched her son's eyes, carefully noting the worry and confusion in them. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

Alexander sat the photo album on the table. He flipped through it until he came to a picture from his second Christmas with the Cullen family. Carlisle had estimated that he was around fourteen months old when the family took him in, so he was just under two-and-a-half years old in the picture. He was sitting on his mother's lap, his green eyes sparkling with amusement and his dark hair sticking out every which way.

"I love that picture," the vampire said fondly.

"There was a story in the _Daily Prophet_ today about the Potters. About a book about them. And there was a picture with it."

"Alex, I don't understand," the vampire said in confusion.

"It was a picture of Jonathan Potter right after the Dark Lord fell. The caption said he was almost two-and-a-half years old at the time."

Alexander placed the picture he'd torn out of the paper onto the table for his mother to look at.

Esme stared with uncharacteristically wide eyes at the image. A little boy with unruly black hair was sitting on the lap of a redheaded woman. The similarities between her son at that age and the boy in the picture were . . . uncanny. Aside from the different eyes and the scar on the other boy's forehead, of course.

The vampire shook her head back and forth several times. "It isn't what you're thinking."

"Really?" Alexander asked, his voice breaking. "Because it looks a hell of a lot like this boy . . . the guy I've been visiting with every day for months might be my . . . That we might be related."

He swallowed hard several times, trying to force the bile down in the back of his throat. "They're British. You got me in a London hospital," Alexander pointed out.

"Yes," Esme conceded. "But not from this woman," she jabbed a finger at the woman who was holding Jonathan Potter in the picture. "The woman that put you into my arms was blonde. Her body style was totally different. Your biological mother . . . I've shown you sketches of her. She didn't look anything like this woman. This, this Lily Potter person." The last was said as she read the caption under the photograph.

Alex put his head in his hands. "Cousins, maybe? I mean, it can't be a coincidence, can it? We look too much alike in those photographs."

"You've seen him all this year," the immortal said. "Do you still look alike?"

Alexander thought about himself and Jonathan Potter, mentally drawing comparisons between them. "He's taller than me. The hair is the same color. In the picture, it's messy like mine used to be, though he has really short hair now."

"Anything else?"

"I'm paler than him," Alex struggled. "And his eyes . . ."

"What about them?" Esme pressed, a tiny edge leaking into her voice.

"They're not like mine. But his brother, Charles . . . they are."

Esme covered her mouth with her hand. "It . . . It could be possible . . . They might be your cousins. Or some other relatives."

"Yeah . . . That's probably it."

The vampire reached across the table and stroked her son's hair. "Do you want to find out for sure?"

Alexander thought about it for a moment. When he was little, he'd feared being found by his biological family. He had no memories of them, so it wasn't like he feared them as people or anything. It was just that he loved his family so much. He loved being a Cullen.

But this was different than what he'd feared as a small boy. This wasn't about the woman who left him with Esme in a London hospital waiting room having second thoughts and coming back to claim him. This was about the possibility that he had other relatives. Cousins. An aunt and an uncle.

"Well, we can look into it. Contact Professor Justinius, if you'd like."

"The blood," he said simply.

"What?"

"The blood downstairs. It's from Jonathan Potter. It was his newspaper and he got cut and bled a little when his sister ripped it from his hands. Dad could test it."

Esme nodded her head. "I'll call him now."

The vampire left her son alone in the dining room as she went to the kitchen to use the phone. As he watched her move, Alexander began to curse himself.

How selfish was he that he wasn't even really thinking about what this was doing to his mother?

The teenager stood up and walked into the kitchen. He could tell his mother was rattled because she was speaking to his father so fast on the phone that the words were unintelligible to mortal ears.

"He's on his way," she said.

Alexander crossed the distance between himself and his mother and hugged her as fiercely as he could. He felt like he was on the edge of breaking down; he just couldn't let his mother do the same. "It doesn't change anything. You're my family. You and Dad and the others," he whispered.

Esme hugged her son back. "I know. It's just . . . hard to think that there might be someone out there who's . . . I don't know, who has this connection to you that I don't."

Pulling back, Alexander regarded his mother. "We don't know anything yet. Even if we're related, I don't know that I'm going to do anything about it. I just . . . I want to know. I think."

Carlisle rushed home after getting the call. He took the bloodied piece of newspaper and sealed in it a plastic baggy and then took one Alexander's hairs.

"We'll have to send them out for testing," he said solemnly. "It will take a week to get the results."

The vampire patriarch didn't wait around for very long after he finished taking the samples. He stayed just long enough to make sure his son and wife were okay.

The other Cullen children arrived home a short while after Carlisle left. At least, most of them did. Edward didn't return from school with the others.

Emmett, Alice, and Jasper all seemed on edge when they entered the house.

The way that Esme was protectively holding onto her youngest son as they sat together on the sofa surprised Alice. "Do you already know then?"

"Know what?" Esme asked.

The spiky-haired girl hesitated for a moment. "There is a new girl at school. Her blood . . . it affects Edward like those two that Emmett couldn't resist."

Alexander had heard stories about what Alice was referring to. There were people in the world whose blood was incredibly potent to certain vampires. Emmett had encountered two such people and, in an uncontrollable bloodlust, murdered them.

"Where is he?" Alexander asked shakily.

"He left."

Even if he was cold and distant, Edward's mere presence would have been immensely comforting to Alexander. The fear of the unknown would have been dulled just by seeing the bronze-haired immortal's face for few moments. But he wasn't there. He'd left for an unknown period of time without so much as a good-bye.

And now Alexander felt like his entire world was starting to come crashing down around him.


	14. Chapter 14

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 14: Thirteen: Ruined**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Thirteen – Ruined**

"He's coming back!" Alice announced happily when Alexander came upstairs on the morning of January thirteenth.

"What?" the boy asked, feeling a little bit of hope bubble up in his chest.

"Edward is coming home," the littlest Cullen said as she bounced around in excitement.

She had reason to be happy; it was the first bit of joy that they'd had in almost a full week. For a house filled primarily with vampires in one of the least sunny places in the continental United States, the Cullen home was an unusually happy and inviting place. Most of the time, anyway. For the past several days, however, it was covered by a cloud of uncertainty and apprehension.

Last week, Edward encountered a girl whose blood was so potent to him that it almost obliterated his finely honed resistance to the allure of human blood. In order to avoid the temptation, he'd fled from Forks for the family's sister coven in Alaska.

He hadn't contacted anyone in the family during his absence, but the members of the Denali coven had assured Carlisle that Edward was doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances. Because of his unwillingness to contact his family, Edward had no idea that there was another crisis brewing.

Alexander had potentially stumbled across several biological relatives.

The evidence was paper-thin. Alexander had stumbled across a picture of a two-and-a-half-year-old Jonathan Potter in the _Daily Prophet_. The boy in the picture bore a striking resemblance to Alexander Cullen at the same age. More than striking; the resemblance was uncanny. If not for the differences in age and eye color, they could have passed for identical twins with little difficulty.

Of course, they couldn't actually be siblings. Alexander had been physically placed in Esme Cullen's arms by his biological mother at a London Hospital fifteen years earlier. And the woman who placed the little green-eyed boy in the vampire's arms was most certainly not Lily Potter.

But that didn't mean that they couldn't be cousins. Perhaps the blonde woman who had given Alexander up was a relative of the Potters, either by blood or by marriage.

Carlisle had sent a sample of Jonathan Potter's blood—that had been spilt on the copy of the _Daily Prophet_ that Alex had taken home with him—and one of Alexander's hairs off to be analyzed. Within a few days, the family would know the truth.

Alexander didn't know what to feel about the situation. Part of him wanted to know whether the Potters were his relatives, but another part didn't. While it was true that every member of the Cullen family had started off as part of a different family, none had surviving relatives left. If Alex had a biological family out there, would he still have the same place in the family he'd known all of his life?

The results of the genetic testing were due back within a few days, and Alexander honestly didn't know if he wanted to read them when they came or not. The boy wanted to sit and think about what it would mean to him to have living biological relatives, but he couldn't. Every spare moment had been spent wondering about Edward, no matter how much he didn't want to be thinking about the vampire.

Was he alright? Would he call? How long would he be gone?

Those questions and a thousand more had haunted the Wizard for the past week. No matter how hard he tried to focus on something else, his mind wandered to a myriad of 'what if?' scenarios.

The mortal also couldn't help the flares of fear and jealousy that had he felt whenever he thought of the Denali coven. Or rather, when he thought of one particular member of the coven: Tanya. The strawberry blonde vampire had never been shy about her romantic interest in Edward. Alexander had spent the past week living with the awful anxiety that Edward would succumb to Tanya's charms and never return.

Now, at least, Alexander knew that that was not the case. Edward would be returning home. That knowledge was an immense relief to the Wizard's already frazzled nerves.

"When will he be back?" Carlisle asked his daughter as he placed a stack of papers into his briefcase. Although it was much too early for most Forks doctors to be heading into work, the vampire always left home shortly after Alexander did.

"Today," Alice answered. "In my vision, Esme is wearing the same outfit that she is now. I can't see the exact time, but I see it happening, so he must come home before Alex returns from school." It appeared for a moment that the vampire was looked at something in the distance before she returned her focus to Carlisle. "And I see Jasper and myself in the vision, so I guess we're not going to school today."

"What about us?" Emmett asked. Rosalie was standing next to him, looking rather bored.

"I don't see you," the seer answered.

Alice's visions were subjective; they were based on the decisions that people had already made. No one knew quite why, but the presence of a Wizard or Witch always obstructed her visions. Alexander never appeared in her visions and if he was standing directly next to his sister, she wouldn't be able to have a vision at all. It was as though there was some innate quality about magic-users that made them immune to the seer's talents.

Because Alice could see Edward returning, she knew that Alexander wouldn't be home for the event. If Alexander changed his mind and stayed home all day, then Alice would lose sight of the vision.

Alexander _did_ want to wait at home for Edward to return. But should he? He missed the immortal greatly. But Edward hadn't bothered to say goodbye to him. And he'd barely spoken to the mortal in months. Given all that Edward had been through with this girl whose blood sang to him, was it fair of Alex to remain home and burden the immortal with his presence and anxieties the moment he walked through the door?

"Well," Alex said softly, "I'll come straight home after classes today."

Carlisle and Esme shared a concerned look. It appeared for a moment that they were going to protest Alex's decision to not stay home, but they remained silent on the issue. They simply nodded to their son in recognition of his decision and then saw him off to school.

The day proved to be interminably long for Alexander. It was the day before the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament and that was one of only two topics that people were interested in discussing. The other topic of conversation was speculation about the deep, dark secret about Jonathan Potter's life that the upcoming Potter biography promised to reveal. To Alex, these topics seemed totally unimportant.

He was in love with his adoptive brother who seemed to not even want to be in the same room with him. And, sometime in the next few days, he was going to find out whether he had relatives that he may or may not want anything to do with.

". . . so I think I've got it all figured out." Eric was explaining his theory on the Second Task to Marcia and Alex, totally oblivious to the fact that his best friend was on the verge of a full blown mental breakdown.

The three students were sitting on the front steps of the central administrative building after lunch, killing time until their next classes. They'd experienced New England winters many times, so the freezing temperatures didn't bother them in the least.

"You'll do great," the Witch assured her boyfriend. "Won't he, Alex?"

"Hmm . . ." the black-haired boy gave as a non-committal response to the question he hadn't bothered to listen to.

"What's with you man?" the bleach blond Wizard demanded. "You've been like a zombie since before Christmas. It's getting old."

Alex turned his head and regarded his friend. "I've got things on my mind," he said morosely.

"Yeah, don't we all?" Eric replied with a careless shrug.

"You want to talk about it?" Marcia asked in concern, ignoring Eric's flippant attitude.

The green-eyed Wizard shook his head wearily. "I don't even know where to begin."

"The beginning?" the Champion offered helpfully. He earned glares from both Marcia and Alexander for that.

"You know I'm adopted, right?"

"Yes," Marcia answered.

"I just found out that I might have some biological relatives."

The Witch covered her mouth with her hands in surprise while Eric whistled before saying, "Heavy, man."

"Yeah," Alex said. "I don't know for sure, but it is a possibility that I've found some cousins of mine by accident."

"How?" Marcia asked.

"Bone marrow registry," Alex lied smoothly. While lying to someone like Headmaster Justinius made him uneasy, telling small lies like that to individuals on an even stature with him was no big deal; the guilt that was born of such lies was minimal.

"The what?" Eric asked.

"Muggle thing," his girlfriend explained. Eric still didn't know what the bone marrow registry was, but he accepted that it was a Muggle thing that could have somehow led Alexander to some relatives of his. He'd ask about the specifics later.

"I'm a match for someone. My dad did some digging into the guy's background and found that he lived around the place where I was abandoned as a kid. I saw a picture of the kid needing the transplant and he looks a whole lot like I did when I was his age. Too close for it to just be a coincidence."

"So, do they know?" Marcia questioned.

"All they know is that some anonymous guy might be a match; I'm just a number to them right now," Alex said, staring off towards the courtyard where the mass of students were moving about doing this and that during the break period. "I don't even know if I want to know for sure, though."

"Why wouldn't you?" Eric asked.

"I don't know what it will mean. Let's say they are my relatives. Then what? They may not know that I even exist. Or they may know and don't care. They may have had a hand in the decision to give me up in the first place. Once I know, it's like . . . I feel like I would be obligated to track them down. Right now I'm just some anonymous number from a database, but if I meet them face-to-face and say that we're related, then what? What happens between them and me at that point? What happens between me and my real family when we find these people that I have this . . . this biological bond with?

"Maybe it's just better to not know," Alex mused aloud.

Marcia reached out and put a comforting arm around Alex's shoulder. "I understand."

"Well I don't," Eric said stubbornly, a large frown marring his face. "It's always better to know than not."

"Eric!" Marcia snapped. "There _are_ some things that it is better off not knowing."

"What, I'm not entitled to my own opinion?" he argued back defensively.

"Not when it's a stupid opinion," the girl replied with a shake of the head.

The pair began to bicker back and forth, seemingly forgetting that their friend was even sitting with them. Such fights were normal between the pair and typically ended fairly quickly with one or both of the duo apologizing. But as Alexander watched the argument for almost two minutes, his irritation kept building and building. Eventually, something inside of him snapped.

"I'm so damn sorry my problems are upsetting you!" the boy snarled, gaining the attention of not only the pair of students he was shouting at, but also the attention of dozens of students in the area who stopped moving about the courtyard to stare.

Alex's face flushed in embarrassment as the scene he'd just created. Without a word to either of his friends, both of whom were staring at him with wide-eyed expressions, the Cullen boy grabbed his bag, stood up, and left as quickly as possible.

He pushed his way through the usual mob of students that crowded the courtyard. After forcefully shoving through the first gaggle of students, the rest had the decency to part for him.

Eric and Marcia gave chase for a bit, calling after Alexander in hopes that he'd stop and talk to them. He didn't, and so they soon ceased trying to chase him down and opted instead to let him have his space.

The Wizard had had enough of school for the day. He was dead set on going home and hiding under the covers of his bed until he could figure out what to do with his life.

"Alex!" a new voice called out to him as he neared the portkey site.

He didn't care who it was. "Just leave me the fuck alone!" he said turning momentarily to level an angry glare at the offending party. When he saw who it was, he felt like he was going to throw up all over the icy ground.

Standing not ten feet away from him was Charles Potter. The hazel eyes were wide in shock at the other boy's furious shout. His mouth opened and closed several times like a fish out of water.

"Charles-"

Alexander didn't get the opportunity to finish his apology. The redheaded boy turned on his heel and ran from him.

"Damn it," the older Wizard muttered. "I'm sorry," he said softly as he watched his maybe-cousin scamper off, even though he knew the Hufflepuff couldn't hear him.

After a moment of just standing and berating himself, Alexander turned and trudged his way off to the portkey site.

"Alexander?" Ms. Lepon asked when she saw the boy arrive. "Are you alright? You look terrible."

"I just want to go home," Alex said forlornly.

The gatekeeper looked up at the boy in apprehension. "I'm not supposed to let you go home until classes are out. Not without the headmaster's permission."

"I'm having a family crisis and I just screamed at my two best friends and a totally innocent thirteen-year-old. I feel awful and I'm pretty sure I can throw-up on your shoes, if that will prove I'm sick enough to go home."

Ms. Lepon chewed on her lip nervously before digging out her twiggy wand. "If anyone asks, you did throw up and I banished. Got it?" She quickly retrieved a marble from the old coffee tin she kept them in and created a portkey, allowing Alexander to go home.

When he landed in the tool shed at the edge of his family's property, Alexander promptly fell to his hands and knees. He stayed on the ground for several long minutes, thinking about the hurt look on Charles's face. His hands went numb from the cold after a bit. When he couldn't stand the feeling—or lack thereof—any longer, he got up, dusted himself off, and began to make his way to the house.

When he walked through the front door, Alexander was surprised to find the entire family in a tense discussion in the living room. He knew that his mother and siblings would be waiting for Edward to return, but his father had gone to work that day. He'd seen the man with his briefcase, hadn't he? And why were Emmett and Rosalie home?

Any thoughts about why his father, Emmett, and Rosalie were home left him when his eyes landed on Edward. The bronze-haired vampire was standing in the center of the mess of vampires, his parents in front of him and his siblings behind him. The sight of the vampire made Alexander feel better, even if the relief was only slight.

"Alex," the boy's mother said in surprise when she was him enter the house. "What are you doing home?"

"Rough day," he said simply as he closed the door and sat his book bag down. When he looked up, he noticed several worried looks being exchanged by the vampires as they had a wordless conversation. "What?"

Carlisle separated himself from the group and handed his mortal son a large, stark white envelope. "Alice had another vision, shortly after you left. The results came in to the hospital mid-morning, right after Edward returned home."

That likely explained why Emmett, Rosalie, and Carlisle were home. Alice had the vision after Alex left and told everyone to stay home.

Had she seen the results in her vision as well?

Alexander took the envelope and stared at it.

The family watched, waiting for him to open it. To do something. To do anything. But he didn't. He just stood totally still, staring at the envelope in his hand.

"Alex?" Edward's soft voice asked.

"No."

"'No' what, son?" Carlisle asked.

"No," Alex repeated, his voice rising. "I-I'm not ready. I don't know if I want this. I'm not sure that I want to know what it says." He looked up at his Alice, his eyes pleading. "What am I supposed to do?"

Although Alice's face displayed her distress, it revealed nothing about what the mortal should do.

Esme opened her mouth to speak, to try and help her desperate son, but nothing came out. She didn't know what to tell the boy. She wanted to keep him all to herself. If the results said that he had family out there, she and her family might have to share him in a way she didn't want to. But that may not be what was best for Alexander. And she always wanted what was best for him. If only she knew what answer would make him happy.

"You should open it," Jasper said quietly from his place next to Alice.

"Shut up, Jasper," Edward growled.

The empathy looked at his bronze-haired brother and was about to say something when a choked sound came from the little human.

"Of course, you want me to look. You want it say that I belong somewhere else."

"Alex," Alice said in alarm.

The boy's eyes stung horribly. He didn't want to cry, but he couldn't help it. His eyes were watering badly enough that his view of the letter in his hand was becoming obscured.

"You never wanted me here in the first place," the mortal managed to force out. "It would be just great for you if it turned out I had some relatives that I could be pawned off on."

"You know that's not true," Alice protested on her shell-shocked husband's behalf.

"He would if Jasper acted like it wasn't true," Edward said darkly.

Alexander's attention was torn away from the envelope by a sudden crashing sound. He looked up to find Jasper and Edward grappling with one another amidst the ruined remains of the grand piano that had been sitting off to the mortal's left.

His view of the fight was partially obstructed by Emmett, who had moved at the same time as his other two brothers in order to keep the fragile Wizard from being hurt. Alice, Rosalie, Carlisle, and Esme were standing where they had been, their feet fixed to the ground in utter shock at the battle.

"You're a fine one to talk! I kept my distance for a good reason!" Jasper snarled at Edward as he landed a blow on the mindreader's face.

The fight was evenly matched. Jasper had vastly more experience when it came to fighting, having taken part in the great Southern Vampire Wars over a century before. Edward, however, could pluck his brother's strategy from his mind.

Jasper made to slam his fist into Edward's face a second time, but the younger vampire blocked the blow and, with a hard hit to his opponent's chest, freed himself.

"It wasn't a good reason," Edward snarled before closing the newfound gap between them with a lunge that took the pair all the way over to the sofa area by the television. "You were just lazy."

The pair twisted and punched and jabbed at one another.

"What about you? How about how you've hurt him? You ignore him for weeks at a time and then stick your hand out to him just to pull it back at the last second," Jasper growled before landing a hard hit that knocked Edward into the large glass windows that made up one side of the house. "If I was cold, you were cruel."

The windows cracked outward from where Edward made contact, creating a spider web-like pattern of fractures for several feet.

The immediate danger passed, Emmett moved fro his spot in front of his mortal brother and tried to break up the fight.

Alex watched as Emmett and Rosalie tried to pry the grappling vampires apart. His mind was focused on all of the problems he'd caused that day.

The fight between Marcia and Eric.

Charles Potter's hurt expression.

The fight happening only a few yards away from where he was standing.

The envelope slipped from between his fingers and floated to the floor. "I would be better if I just went away," he said quietly, closing his eyes and covering his face with his hands, unable to watch anymore.

Before he knew what was going on, Alexander felt like he was being pushed through a rubber hose. In the next instant, he was cold and quickly becoming soaking wet.

He opened his eyes and looked around. He was no longer at home, but in the middle of a forest. The trees were the same mix he was used to in the area around his house, but he didn't recognize the area itself. And the weather was different. At home, the sky had been cloudy, but it was sleeting heavily where ever he was now. That meant he wasn't anywhere near his house.

The Wizard wrapping his arms tightly around himself to try and stave off the cold for a few seconds. "I Apparated," he said in amazement, his speaking causing a foggy cloud to come from his mouth. "Without a wand."

The boy closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on how it felt to Apparate, but he couldn't make anything happen. He'd hoped that, even though the first time had been an accident, he'd be able to recreate it if he tried hard enough.

His eyes snapped open after a few seconds of trying to Apparate when he gave an involuntary shiver.

Alexander couldn't just stand there all day being frozen alive. He had no idea where he was in relation to home, so he just picked a direction and began walking, hoping for the best.

After only a few minutes of walking—a time span in which he lost feeling in his nose—the boy began to feel like he was being watched. He stopped and turned around, expecting to see the person whose eyes he felt burning holes in the back of his head.

He saw nothing of interest.

When he turned back around, he found his way blocked by a vampire. Only a couple of inches taller than Alexander and with only a slightly larger build, the newcomer had light brown hair and relatively plain features. The only things that really stuck out about the immortal were his eyes, which were burgundy from consuming human blood. Unlike his family, this vampire clearly meant to harm him.

The predator smirked as he stalked towards his prey.

A/N: A quick note on Apparition. On page 377 of the British edition of _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_, it says: "Ron was now trying to Disapparate without a wand." I don't know if this is intended to mean it is impossible or just very difficult to do without a wand. As the online resources I usually go to with this sort of problem have left me without a clear answer, I'm going to go with the latter under a theory that all spells are more difficult to do without a wand.


	15. Chapter 15

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 15: Fourteen: The Way Home**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Fourteen – The Way Home**

This was the first vampire that Alexander had encountered that had red eyes. His family had always been extremely careful to ensure that the Wizard's existence was hidden from all vampires except for those that they knew they could trust. Outside of the immediate family, only the Cullens' sister coven in Denali knew of Esme's adopted mortal son.

Reacting purely on instinct, the teen turned and ran from the approaching vampire. Alexander could hear the predator laugh as he broke into a sprint.

And the vampire had reason to laugh. No human could outrun a vampire. That didn't mean Alexander wasn't going to try, though.

It wasn't until after the boy had been running through the sleet and the rain for about two minutes that he realized the vampire was playing with him. The brown-haired immortal could have overtaken him a dozen times over, but hadn't. The only logical reason as to why Alexander wasn't dead already was that the vampire didn't want him dead just yet.

Before Alexander could follow that train of thought any further, a figure stepped into his path. It was a vampire, but not the same one as before.

The new vampire had pale, olive-toned skin and a body far more toned than the first. He had long, glossy black hair and the red eyes of a vampire that sustained himself on human blood. Where the other vampire had been fairly plain looking, this one had a certain ethereal quality about him that made his appearance quite striking.

Attractive or not, his presence terrified Alexander even further. He tried to stop, but he continued to be propelled forward on the icy ground. The boy stuck and arm out and grabbed hold of the nearest tree branch and used it to swing towards the left.

The mortal broke into a new sprint as soon as he was facing away from the second vampire. He was breathing heavily, from both exhaustion and fear.

He traveled on his new path for a long time. His ability to accurately judge the minutes had long since faded, but he guessed that he ran on his new trajectory for at least ten minutes before he dared to look for his pursuers. Alexander spared a quick glance over his shoulder. He honestly didn't expect to see the vampires, even if they were chasing him at a speed he'd be able to see, but he looked anyway. As expected, he saw nothing.

When the mortal boy turned his head back around, he found that a new figure was now standing in his way. A few dozen yards away stood a third vampire. This one, a female, had long hair that was a brilliant orange color. She smirked at Alex when he realized she was there.

For a third time, Alexander changed course.

After what seemed to be a very long while, Alexander was starting to really feel run down. Whatever rush of adrenaline he'd received after encountering the first vampire was beginning to fade away. He was out of breath, his muscles were starting to rebel against his continued movements, and there was a sharp, stabbing pain in his lower left abdominal region.

The Wizard came to a difficult stop by a large tree. He knew that the vampires could catch him whenever they wanted to, so it didn't really matter what he did at this point. Run, stand still, hide. It didn't really matter.

He leaned heavily against the tree, his eyes darting about as he tried to find where the vampires were hiding. They were undoubtedly watching him and, though knowing where they were would provide him with no strategic advantage, he wanted to see them coming whenever they finally decided to attack.

Taking in several deep breaths, the mortal wondered if this was some sort of divine punishment for his actions earlier in the day. If his accidental Apparition had been directed to the hunting ground of these vampires because of the way he'd treated Charles, Eric, Marcia, and Jasper.

"Hello," a high voice asked from his side.

Alexander jumped at the sound. The redheaded vampire had appeared directly to his left. He tried to stumble back from the immortal, but his back hit something hard.

"Going somewhere?" a deep voice asked from above his head. Two olive-toned hands reached out from behind Alex and grabbed his arms, holding them in a vise-like grip against his sides.

The red-haired vampire was now in front of him and the olive-skinned vampire was at his back. As expected, the third vampire—the one Alexander had encountered first—appeared a moment later off to his right.

"Where are the others?" the brown-haired vampire demanded.

"W-What?" Alex stammered out.

"You," the redhead said as she looked Alex up and down, "would not be out here on your own."

"And we heard the gunshot, little one," the immortal that was holding Alexander in place said softly.

Alexander quickly realized what was going on. The vampires had heard the sound of him Apparating in. The displacement of air always makes a sound, ranging from a little 'pop' to a loud cracking sound that resembled a gunshot. That sound was probably what first drew the immortals to him. That theory made a lot of sense when one considered how dulled his scent would be in the stormy weather.

Given the sound, his lack of a firearm, and how he was dressed, the vampires were assuming that he wasn't alone. That he was on a hunting trip or something like that. They thought that he'd lead them back to his camp and whatever other humans were with him.

The boy remained silent, not answering the question the vampires had posed. In response, the olive-skinned vampire squeezed his arms painfully.

Alexander let out a pained yelp and struggled futilely to free himself.

"If he won't tell us," the plainest of the vampires began, "then I guess only one of us will be able to eat." He smirked and, just like the first time Alexander ran across him, began to stalk towards his prey.

The vampire holding on to Alexander released him and backed away. Clearly, the brown-haired vampire was the leader of the coven. And he'd called dibbs on Alex.

Alexander moved around so that his back was firmly against the tree. It was the farthest he could get away from the immortal predator.

As the vampire neared, Alex found his breath coming in increasingly panicked breaths. He bit down on his tongue so as not to scream. He wanted to be brave. To die with a little bit of composure and strength. But he was terrified.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a fifth individual arrived. Landing in the space between Alex and the approaching vampire, the newcomer swiped broadly with claw-like fingers and growled viciously.

It was Edward.

The bronze-haired vampire's arrival caused all three of the other vampires to jump back slightly and assume defensive crouches.

"Are you okay?" the newcomer asked the mortal in a low voice.

Alex tried to reply, but the words wouldn't come. His mouth opened and closed uselessly as he watched Edward stare down his opponents.

He was still afraid, but no longer for himself. He was worried that Edward would be hurt trying to defend him.

"Don't be afraid," Edward assured. "I will allow no harm to come to you."

The three other vampires laughed. The female vampire's laugh was high-pitched and childish while the other two's were deep chuckles.

"Three against one," the brown-haired vampire said confidently.

Edward growled threateningly in response.

The redhead made like she was going to leap at Edward, but the latter didn't so much as flinch. The olive-skinned vampire tried the same trick, actually daring to take a step towards the mindreader. But again, Edward didn't rise to the feint.

Very slowly, the leader of the three vampires lowered himself down into a deeper crouch. Edward mimicked the movement.

Before the brown-haired vampire could actually do anything, however, a blurred figure slammed into him. A second blur slammed into the redhead and a third into the black-haired vampire.

Alexander couldn't make out any of the newcomers, but he knew that were members of his family.

Alice, Esme, and Carlisle appeared in the next instant. They filled the space around Alex, holding him protectively away from the conflict.

After the better part of a minute, the fight ended. The three red-eyed vampires backed away to stand together. Their opponents—revealed, unsurprisingly, to be Rosalie, Jasper, and Emmett— formed a line next to Edward.

"He's our prey," the leader of the other coven snarled.

"He's part of our coven," Carlisle replied firmly.

"A human?" the olive-skinned vampire questioned incredulously.

"They die," Jasper said darkly.

"Jasper-" Carlisle started.

The blond vampire ignored his adoptive father entirely. He focused on the leader of the other coven. "You terrorized my little brother. For that, you die."

The three vampires appeared to be genuinely afraid of Jasper. Alexander knew that Jasper had a great many scars that were invisible to human eyes. Souvenirs from the great Southern Vampire Wars, they made him appear quite intimidating to other immortals. Of course, there was another explanation for his opponents' fear: Jasper was probably using his empathic abilities to _force_ the other vampires to fear him.

"We'll leave," the black-haired vampire offered. He cast an uncertain glace to his leader.

"You will," Edward said before motioning to the other two vampires. "But they won't. They're already thinking about tracking us home."

The brown-haired vampire snarled at Edward's words.

After a moment that seemed to stretch out forever, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Edward sprung into action. Alex was able to see the olive-skinned vampire run away from the conflict before Esme forcibly hid his face against her shoulder.

Alexander was thankful that she pulled him away when she did. Judging from the awful sound that resembled tearing metal, the boy knew exactly what was happening. His family members were dismembering the two vampires that Edward had indicated wouldn't stop hunting him.

His siblings were actually killing in order to protect him.

When the terrible sound finally ended, Alexander felt himself being pulled away from his mother. He looked up and met Edward's golden eyes.

A wave of nausea and debilitating fatigue caused the mortal to lose whatever balance and strength he had left. Edward caught Alex as his legs gave out. He hoisted the mortal up into his arms and began to sprint away, leaving the other Cullen vampires to finish the task of disposing of the other vampires' remains.

The next hour was a blur of images and impressions to Alexander. The boy wanted to ask several questions, like how his vampire family had managed to find him, be he didn't have it in him. He was vaguely aware of the near-freezing temperatures and the rain. Of being brought home and of having his cold, soaking wet clothing stripped from his body. But the next time he was really aware of his surroundings, he found himself laying face-down on his nice warm bed.

The warm blankets encased him like a protective cocoon. He rolled over onto his back, his head throbbing and body aching in objection to the movement. His legs were achy and he was fairly positive that his arms were bruised from where the olive-skinned vampire had gripped him. The boy let out a groan and, after untangling his arms from the blankets he was wrapped in, brought his hands to his head.

Alexander made to sit up, but found a cool pair of hands pressing against his chest.

"You need to rest," Edward's soft voice came from the darkness. "You've only been asleep for a few hours and you're burning up."

The mortal didn't want to lie back down just yet, so he continued to try and sit up, his body pushing against the vampire's hands.

"Stubborn as always," the immortal chuckled.

The hands left Alex's chest and moved to the boy's back. Edward held the Wizard in his arms, pulling him upright so that he could rest against the headboard of the bed.

"I can't see anything," the sixteen-year-old complained. The words came out rough and slurred as a result of his parched throat and fatigue.

A moment later, the bedside lamp was turned on. After shutting his green eyes for a moment, Alex opened them slowly so that he could adjust to the illumination. The room was out of focus because he wasn't wearing his glasses, but he could still make out Edward's concerned face fairly well.

After turning on the light, the bronze-haired vampire wasted no time in repositioning the blankets on Alexander's bed so that they would keep him warm in his seated position. The boy greatly appreciated the gesture, as even the normal temperature of his room seemed icy cold to him at the moment.

"What time is it?" Alex asked. He didn't want to turn his head to look at the digital alarm clock.

"Barely after ten."

"At night?"

Edward nodded before picking up a pair of pills from the nightstand. "Carlisle left these for you. I will get you some water." He disappeared into the bathroom, returning with a cup of cool water a second later.

Alexander dutifully took the pills he'd been given and then drank deeply from the cup. The moisture felt wonderful to his dry throat. After finishing, the boy closed his eyes and rested his head against the headboard, hoping that the pounding in his head would soon stop.

Edward took the little cup from Alexander's hands and placed it on the nightstand. "Is there anything else I can get for you?"

The boy cracked his eyes open. "No, thank you. There's no need for you to hang around here and play nursemaid to me."

"I would prefer to stay."

"No you wouldn't, Edward."

"Yes, I-"

Alexander didn't let him finish. "No you damn well wouldn't!" he snapped. The sudden outburst caused his head to throb once again. The pain was bad enough that he had to clench his eyes shut for several seconds. "You don't want to be here," Alex whimpered in defeat. "So just leave me alone."

The vampire stared at the Wizard in silence for several seconds, guilt over what he'd done to Alexander filling him. "I'm afraid that you've been under a misconception, Alexander."

"What?" the Wizard asked.

"It is understandable, really. Once one has all of the pertinent facts, that is."

"Please, just make sense. My brain isn't working on a high enough level for this. I don't have it in me to try and figure out what you mean. Not anymore. I'm so sick and tired of not understanding you."

Edward sat down on the edge of the bed. "Alexander, am I correct in assuming that the distance I have put between us in recent weeks-"

"Months," the mortal corrected bitterly.

"Months," the vampire conceded guiltily. "Am I correct in assuming that you believe that this distance was created because I didn't want to be near you?"

Alexander stared at Edward like the vampire was a complete and utter idiot. "Of course. Why would you move yourself away from me if your intent wasn't to, you know, be away from me?"

"I see . . . It was my intent to be away from you, but not because that was what I wanted. _I_ wanted to be near you, but I thought that it was _you_ that desired the separation."

The boy closed in eyes in frustration. "I told you, my mind isn't working on the upper levels."

"Some of what I will tell you may be disconcerting, and I apologize for that. I beg you, though, please listen to all of what I have to say."

Alex took in a deep breath before nodding his head. The movement caused his head to throb painfully for a moment.

"I noticed several months ago that my feelings for you were . . . not the same as they had always been. I began to devote more and more time to thinking about you. Thinking about you in ways that I'd never thought of you before, Alex. There was new dimension to my affection for you.

"When I began to think this way about you, you started to hide from me. You spent more and more time in your room and away from the house. You began practicing a form of magic, I believe, that hides your thoughts from me. Rightly or wrongly, I interpreted these actions as you having realized what I was beginning to feel for you and, in your discomfort, pulling away from me. And so, in an effort to grant you your wish, I began to pull away from you as well.

"I confess, my actions were not entirely for your benefit. It seemed to be that you were clearly rejecting any feelings that I might have for you. Being near you became difficult. It was like placing water," he said, motioning momentarily towards the empty glass on the nightstand, "in front of a man dying of thirst. It was easier for me to be away from you. It hurt _me_ less. Every time I started to get close to you again, I pulled away because I was afraid.

"Did I know that my actions were upsetting you? Yes, to an extent. I could read Jasper's mind; he felt your occasional bouts of depression. But much of the time you were almost eerily calm. You were empty of emotion. So, yes, I knew that you were upset at times, but I had no idea of the true extent of it. I am spoiled, you see. I have spent so much time reading others' minds, knowing what thoughts were behind every little action, that I was ineffective at reading what you were thinking and feeling when it was not openly on display in your mind. You suffered from periods of depression, but you still smiled. You were still the same old Alex. Until I left. When I returned from Denali and saw how greatly my actions had affected you . . . When I felt your pain reflected in the minds of the others . . .

"And how could you not be upset? One of your brothers was abandoning you. I just thought, in the long run, that my actions were justified. That it would be easier for the both of us if I was not lurking about, making you uncomfortable. But I was wrong. Nothing justifies the way I have hurt you in recent months. And I can only hope that, in time, you will forgive me and learn to trust me once again."

Alexander considered the words. "You said that you felt differently about me. A different affection."

"Yes," Edward confessed.

The mortal boy sat in silence, thinking the words over. Was it possible that Edward had been feeling the same as he had this entire time? That Alex's attempts to find some bit of privacy in which he could think things over had given Edward the wrong impression?

Edward waited for several long moments for Alexander to say something else. To provide some response to his confession. When he did, it wasn't the reaction he'd expected at all.

Alexander began to laugh.

"I fail to see the humor in the situation," the vampire pointed out.

"We're idiots," Alex said after he managed to bring his laughter under control. "We're the biggest idiots in the world."

"I beg your pardon."

"I thought that you were distancing yourself because _you_ didn't return _my_ feelings."

"What?" Edward asked, his voice rising uncharacteristically.

"I didn't understand what I was feeling for you at first, and I didn't want you to hear me trying to figure things out. So I found ways to keep my thoughts hidden. When you began to drift away from me, I thought that it was because _you'd_ figured out what _I_ was thinking about and were disgusted by it."

"What-" Edward began, only to be cut off.

"I'm in love with you."

The vampire was taken totally off guard by the declaration. For a long moment, he just stared at the exhausted and ill boy sitting across from him. Then, after gathering his courage, he raised a hand to Alex's cheek and started to lean in.

For Alex, the moment was wonderful. Sure, he was tired and achy. And Edward's cold touch was uncomfortable in his sickly state. But this was still how things were supposed to be. The spark that was missing at the Yule Ball was present in this moment.

As he'd realized in December, it was always supposed to be Edward.

The vampire watched carefully for the slightest hint of resistance on Alexander's part. When none came, he carefully placed in lips on the mortal's.

Alexander's hands came up and around to rest on Edward's shoulders. When the vampire tried to pull back from what was, until that point, a chaste kiss, the Wizard held on, silently urging the vampire to lengthen and deepen the action. Edward complied.

Despite his desire to continue the kiss indefinitely, the vampire eventually broke the contact. He was reluctant to do so, but recognized that his companion needed things like oxygen.

"And I am in love with you, Alexander," Edward whispered as the boy rested his forehead on his shoulder. He relished the moment for a few seconds before asking with a smirk, "So, we were idiots?"

"Yes. Very, very big idiots."


	16. Chapter 16

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 16: Fifteen: The Day Off**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Fifteen – The Day Off**

The next time Alexander woke up, he felt sweaty and overly warm, but otherwise comfortable. The blankets were wrapped almost tightly around him and he could feel a light weight on his back. It was dark once again—not all that unusual of a state for a basement bedroom to be in—and it took a moment for the mortal's fuzzy mind to figure out where he was exactly.

"Good morning," a voice came from a few inches away from his head.

The light weight on Alex's back moved up and down his spine several times. The weight was from Edward's hands, the boy realized. He was lying in the vampire's arms, the heavy blankets wrapped around him so as to protect him from the immortal's cool touch.

"How do you feel?"

"Better," Alex answered. "Better than I've felt in a very long time."

"Your fever broke," Edward pointed out. They both knew that Alexander wasn't referring to just his physical wellbeing, but the vampire didn't want to bring up the topic of his behavior over the last few months.

"What time is it?"

The bronze-haired vampire chuckled before craning his neck so that he could place a kiss on Alex's forehead. "You ask that question far too often."

"I can't see the clock from here. And getting up to look at it would involve, well, getting up."

"It is half past eight."

The sixteen-year-old tried to roll off of Edward at that revelation. "After eight?"

"No, no, no," the vampire replied, holding the mortal in place. "You're not going to school today. You're in no condition."

"You said that my fever already broke," Alex protested, unable to free himself. "I need to go to school. The Second Task is today."

"I'm not just talking about your fever."

The Wizard stopped struggling as he remembered all that had happened.

"You were almost killed yesterday," Edward said softly. "You received the test results. You fought with Jasper. And, even though your fever broke, you are still ill. What you need is to take some time and let everything settle. Spend the day resting up. You can go back to school tomorrow after you've had a chance to finish getting better and to digest everything. Eric is your friend and will understand if you explain it to him."

Alexander sighed and then relaxed against the vampire's chest. "You forgot the most important thing."

"Oh?"

"I got a boyfriend," the Wizard said with a grin. Whatever residual irritation remained at Edward for the cold shoulder he'd given the mortal over the last few months was vastly outweighed by the pure, unadulterated bliss Alexander felt when he said those words.

Edward began to rub his hands up and down Alexander's back again. "I didn't think that was the sort of thing that you'd need to recover from."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know. And on the subject of being 'boyfriends,' I was wondering if you wouldn't mind waiting a little bit to tell the others."

"What?" Alex asked, suddenly no longer relaxed.

"I only wish to delay the announcement a short while; a few hours at most. Telling Esme are Carlisle that we are together isn't something to do casually. I've heard their thoughts about you dating for some time now. They dread the entire concept. There are certain things they expect."

"Like?"

"I should ask for their blessing to date you."

Alex was laughing before he could stop himself. "You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm not," Edward answered seriously. "If your involvement with Diggory had been anything more than a reluctant dance, then they would have insisted on meeting him first. In order to meet with their expectations of this situation, I should explain my feelings to them and then wait for their reaction."

"None of my friends' parents insisted on this kind of thing," Alexander complained.

"That you know of," Edward added. "Carlisle is very old fashioned. And Esme is very overprotective. While I have no doubt that they will have no objections, they would be extremely distressed if we didn't talk to them about it rather than just showing upstairs hand-in-hand. Asking for their blessing isn't about getting their permission, it is about showing them that we respect their feelings on the matter. Given what our relationship has been before now . . ." he trailed off.

Alexander didn't want to think about that. It was weird, he realized, to suddenly be dating his adoptive brother. But looking in hindsight, he wondered if he'd ever really been like a brother to Edward. He had always been close to the vampire in ways he'd never been with Emmett or Jasper.

On more than one occasion, Alex had attributed his close relationship with Edward to the fact that the immortal didn't have a mate. He always assumed that Edward had just had more free time for him than the others. But, looking back at they way they'd always gravitated towards one another in everything that they did, Alexander wondered how long they'd been moving towards where they are now.

"So, you'll ask Mom and Dad for permission to date me."

"Their blessing," Edward corrected. "And yes, I will. After everyone has had a chance to spend a little time with you." He craned his neck down a second time. Rather than kissing Alexander on the forehead a second time, he breathed in the mortal's scent. "It's selfish, I know. I told them that I needed to talk with you, to apologize for upsetting you by leaving. So they're all just waiting upstairs for you. They're waiting, and I don't really care because I have you all to myself."

Alexander snuggled in closer to Edward, maneuvering the blankets out the way a little bit so that his head could rest against the vampire's toned chest. "We should go upstairs soon," he said. "I have to apologize to Jasper. The things that I said yesterday . . . I was just upset."

The pair remained wrapped up in one another for several more minutes before the mortal decided it was time to get up. Edward went upstairs ahead of his new boyfriend, allowing Alexander time to shower, brush his teeth, and do all of the other things he needed to do in order to prepare for the day. Once he was finished, Alex joined the rest of the family upstairs.

The ground floor was in a little better shape than it had been in the day before. The ruins of Edward's piano had been removed and large strips of tape and sheets of plastic covered the broken window panes.

All of Alexander's family were standing in the space between the entryway and the television viewing area. Every head turned the boy's direction when he entered the room.

"Alex," Esme breathed as she rushed to hug her son. "Oh, sweetie, are you feeling better?"

The Wizard hugged his mother back. "Yes. I'm so sorry about yesterday."

"I'm just happy you're alright," the female vampire said.

"We all are, son," Carlisle said as he placed a hand on his youngest son's shoulder.

"So I'm forgiven? Just like that?" Alex asked in surprise. "I started a fight that wrecked the house, Apparated to the middle of nowhere, and then caused a fight with another coven that resulted in you all having to _kill_ two other vampires."

"And?" Emmett asked from his place by Rosalie.

"Alex, none of that was your fault. Not really," Alice said. "The first time you ever used accidental magic back when you were little, Headmaster Justinius said that it happens to all Wizards and Witches from time to time. You were upset and something outside of your control happened."

"And those other vampires made their choice," Jasper added. "They could have given up the chase, but they didn't. Even after they were told that you were part of our coven, they still planned on trying to hurt you."

"But the fight-"

"Was far more my fault than yours," Jasper interrupted. "Long simmering family business between Edward and myself finally blew up in our faces."

The blond vampire walked across the room and pulled Alex into a hug. The mortal didn't know how to respond. Jasper had never hugged him. Ever.

"I'm sorry, Alex," he whispered in his southern accent.

"People keep apologizing to me, and I never understand what is going on," Alex complained, still surprised by the hug.

Jasper pulled away. "I've been a terrible brother."

Alexander tried to protest, but his brother didn't give him a chance.

"It has always been hard for me, having a living person in the house. The scent of your blood . . . It was hard for me from the first moment that I laid eyes on you. But I've also loved you as my brother from the first time I laid eyes on you.

"I knew that with time and effort, I would have no problems around you. And I tried, I really did. For several years I allowed myself to be close to you. You were too young to remember, of course, but there was a time that I was as close to you as any of our siblings. But I grew weary because of it. Controlling myself around you was so hard for so long that I just stopped trying. I decided that it would be best if I was never in a position where I might harm you. I kept physical contact down to a minimum, spent more time away on hunting trips, and refused to be alone with you.

"It was a horrible thing for me to do. Edward was right when he called me 'lazy.' I should have kept working on my resolve, but it was so much easier to tell myself that I would make things up to you later. That, once you were a vampire, I'd have all eternity to be a better brother to you. I've spent years making plans of all the places I'd take you to and all the things I would show you during your first years as a vampire. I thought that I could cultivate our relationship then and that all of the mistakes I'd knowingly made with you would be washed away."

Jasper was going to say more, but this time Alex didn't let him. The boy mimicked his brother's earlier movement and hugged the vampire.

"I-I thought you didn't want me here," the Wizard confessed.

The empathy returned the hug. "Nothing could be further from the truth."

"It's really good to know," Alexander said with a laugh that failed to hide how choked up he was at the knowledge that Jasper really did care for him.

"Does this mean that I'm forgiven?"

"Of course," the green-eyed boy sincerely. "As long as you take me to all of those places you planned."

"It's a promise," Jasper replied with a smile as the embrace ended.

"And you and Edward have made up?"

"Yes," the two vampires in question answered in unison.

"We had our fight and agreed that, so long as you forgave the both of us, we'd bury the hatchet," Edward explained.

"That's good. I am curious, though," Alexander began as he looked at Jasper. "Why the hugging? It has to be killing you, no matter how much you want to make things up to me."

Jasper grimaced before casting a glance to Edward.

"What?" Alex asked as he observed the silent action.

"I neglected to tell you how we found you," Edward said.

The mortal boy thought about it for a few moments. It was odd, he realized. He'd Apparated away. How had his family been able to find him in the middle of a forest, miles away from home in the middle of a storm? There wasn't even a scent trail to follow.

"As things stood, you were going to die," Rosalie said. The statement was blunt, but her tone was soft and gentle.

Alex stared in horror at his sister.

"I had a vision," Alice continued the story. "In it, Carlisle received a call from the chief of police asking him to come to the hospital to help the examination of the body of a teenage boy found in the woods about ten miles north of here. Chief Swan gave a general description of the boy, and he matched you."

"So . . . based on the vision, you knew that I was about ten miles north of here. That was how you found me," Alexander concluded carefully. His voice was shaking as he spoke.

"Yes," Carlisle replied. "Edward was out the door the moment Alice had the vision. The rest of us followed as soon as she relayed her vision to us."

The Wizard cast a quick glance towards his secret new boyfriend. "But how does that affect Jasper's self-control?"

"It is strange, but your blood doesn't seem to be affecting me at all right now. I-We believe that the shock of learning that we were about to lose you forever affected us all. It is as if all of our priorities and instincts have been rearranged. Standing near you, I feel no more impulse to harm you than I would an animal," Jasper explained.

"That's strange. And not just the part where you compared me to animal," the mortal quipped. "It's a good strange. I'm really happy about it. But now I have to ask: was there anything else I missed?" Alexander questioned the room.

"Only an owl from the Department of Magical Affairs chastising you for underage magic. It said that you should contact them if you accidentally 'splinched' yourself, whatever that means," Emmett said. "I thought they would prosecute you. I mean, this isn't your first bout of underage magic."

"They don't usually count it if you're not school-aged at the time. Not unless you're being malicious about it," the Wizard informed his largest brother. "So all of my other accidental spells don't count against me because they were from before I started the Academy. As for splinching, I've heard Eric talk about it. It is where not all of your body parts end up in the same place."

"I can't believe they didn't go and get you," Esme said with a frown. "If they detected your Apparition, then they should have had the good sense to go and get it."

"I actually don't know if they could," her youngest mused aloud. "I'm sketchy on the details because I haven't had any instruction on Apparition, but I'm not sure if they detect it at both the point of origin and the destination. But even if they did detect where I ended up, there were no Muggles around, and, as you said, it was only about ten miles away. The Accidental Magic Reversal Squad probably wouldn't bother with it unless there was something that they had to reverse, like splinching.

"And maybe they did come looking for me. I didn't stay in the same place very long. They may have Apparated in, not found me, assumed I'd gone home, and then left."

"I still don't like it," Esme huffed.

Alexander shrugged. "Well, I guess that brings us to the last big item of pressing concern: the test results."

"Does that mean you're made a decision?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes," Alex said.

"'Yes' as in you're going to look at them or 'yes' as in you've made a decision?" Edward asked for a clarification.

"I've made a decision," Alex said with a nod of his head. "I'm going to open the results on Friday."

"Friday?" everyone else asked in unison.

"I was thinking about in the shower and, there is something I have to do before I look at the results," the mortal told his family. "I yelled at Charles Potter yesterday. I was heading towards the portkey site at school and I was really upset. He called out to me and I yelled for him to leave me alone before I realized who I was talking to. Then he ran off before I could apologize. I need to apologize to him and it will be easier if he's not . . ." He wasn't sure how to complete the sentence. The word 'family' just didn't seem to fit.

"I understand," Edward said assuringly. "If he is your relative, you're worried that you won't be able to apologize the way you want to."

"Exactly," Alex confirmed. "If we're relatives—and that's still a pretty big 'if'—then I don't want to try and deal with that while I'm trying to apologize to him. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to come off as a sane person if I open the results today and then try to apologize tomorrow. I need to apologize first and then find out the truth, whatever it may be. Plus, opening it on Friday will give me the entire weekend to make my peace with it before I see any of the Potters again."

"That's a very mature way of looking at things," Carlisle pointed out.

"Well, I'm dying to know. There's a pretty big part of me that just wants to rip the envelope open and end this anxiety. But I know myself well enough to know that, if I'm related to the Potters, I won't be able to handle seeing them tomorrow. It will be too much, too soon. I need a delay. So either I wait until Friday or I skip school for the rest of the week. And since I need to apologize to Eric and Marcia for yelling at them as well, the second option isn't a very good one."

"Wow," Emmett said with a smirk, "you bit everyone's head off yesterday."

Rosalie glared at her husband with an expression that promised severe punishment for his statement.

At that point, the family moved into the dining room. Although Alexander was the only one that needed to eat, everyone wanted to be around him. They'd come so close to losing him the day before that no one was very comfortable letting him out of their sight. It had been a pretty big concession to allow Edward and Edward alone to remain with Alexander as the mortal slept. The rest of the family had only agreed to it because it was unanimously decided upon that Edward had done the most damage and needed to repair it.

After Alexander had finished breakfast, he cast a glance over to Edward, who was sitting next to him. The vampire nodded once before looking across the table to Carlisle and Esme.

"There is one more thing that we need to discuss," the mindreader announced.

"Oh?" Carlisle asked.

Edward hesitated for a moment as he formulated exactly what he wanted to say. "Alexander and I had a long discussion last night."

"That's good," Esme said. "I much prefer it when my boys are on good terms."

"We are on good terms. Very good terms, in fact. Which is what I want to discuss with you. I'm in love with Alex."

Carlisle didn't look the least bit surprised. Neither did Esme, Rosalie, Alice, or Jasper. Emmett, on the other hand, looked totally dumbfounded down at the end of the table.

"And I'm in love with him," Alex interjected a bit awkwardly.

Underneath the table, Edward reached out and took the boy's hand in his own.

"I know your feelings on Alexander dating. You have very high demands on how you expect him to be treated. About the kind of relationship he should be in. And I want you to know that I have every intention of treating in a way you'd approve of. I love him. I love him more than anything else in this world.

"I can understand your fear and reluctance about us being in a relationship. There isn't a member of the family that I haven't disappointed over the last several months. With the way I've hurt Alexander, there is no one that I've disappointed more than myself. But I swear to you on my immortal life, that I will do nothing further to hurt him. I will love, support, and cherish him as he deserves. And I will obey every rule you place on our being together."

Carlisle and Esme exchanged a look before the former began to speak.

"Edward . . . I've known you for a century. I know the kind of man you are. There is no one in this world that I would trust Alexander with more than you."

Esme looked at Alex. "Is this what you want as well?"

"Yes. More than anything."

The vampire matriarch smiled softly. "Then the two of you have my blessing."

"Of course, Edward," Rosalie interrupted before Alexander could begin to properly enjoy the moment, "you understand that if you _do_ hurt our baby brother in any way, we will be forced to tear your head off and bury it outside that Swan girl's house, right?"

Emmett let loose one of his typical, booming laughs at Rosalie's threat.

The rest of the day was very relaxed. As Alexander finished recovering from his short bout of illness, the rest of the family enjoyed a day off. All of the children remained home from school, Carlisle took the day off of work, and Esme cancelled all of her appointments.

The only time anyone in the household left was when Carlisle was called into work on an emergency. There was something said about a car accident at the high school, but Alexander was in a state of near-sleep at the time, so he didn't really catch much of what his father said as he rushed out the door.

Alexander was happier than he could ever remember being. Even with the lingering uncertainty of the genetic test and his guilt over missing the Second Task and the way he'd yelled at Marcia, Eric, and Charles, he felt amazing.

For someone who had always been very reserved, Edward proved to be a remarkably affectionate boyfriend. The vampire would lay his head in Alexander's lap as the mortal ran his fingers through his messy hair, plant lingering kisses on the Wizard's lips whenever the urge struck, and paid his boyfriend more attention than he had in months.

All in all, it was an amazing day. When Alexander began to prepare for school the next morning, he finally felt like things were going his way.


	17. Chapter 17

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 17: Sixteen: Making Amends**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Sixteen – Making Amends**

Alexander found Marcia and Eric first thing Thursday morning. They weren't hard to find; after spending years hanging around the pair, the sixteen-year-old knew their habits by heart. First thing in the morning, the pair could be found making out in the Student Government Office.

The younger Wizard opened the door to the office, entered, shut the door, and then leaned heavily against it. "Hi," he nervously greeted the pair.

Eric was seated at his desk while Marcia sat on top it with her legs crossed. They both looked surprised and relieved to see their friend.

"Alex," they greeted in unison.

"I'm sorry," Alexander rushed to get out. Then, slowed down and explained himself. "I, uh, owe the two of an apology. For the way I acted. And for missing the Second Task. I'm really sorry for everything."

"We shouldn't have acted the way we did, either," Eric admitted after a moment of uncomfortable silence. "You were having a problem and you tried to talk to us about it, but we turned it into a fight between us. We totally ignored what was going on with you. So, I guess I owe you an apology, too."

"And me," the Witch added.

"I started it," Alex protested as he pushed himself off of the door. "I let things get really bad in my life. I kept putting talking about things off until I just blew up. At everyone."

"Everyone?" the seventeen-year-old questioned.

"I yelled at the two of you. And then Charles Potter, by mistake. That was pretty awful. Then I got home and yelled at one of my brothers. That started a fist-fight," the green-eyed boy shook his head.

"So it was a 'bad day got worse' sort of thing?" the Wizard pressed.

"Worse is right," Alex said with a nervous laugh. "When the fight broke out, I did some accidental magic: I Apparated ten miles away into the middle of a storm without my wand. A couple of wild animals tried to eat me and I made myself sick. So, yeah. Things got worse."

"Holy crap," the Witch said in surprise.

"So," Eric started, elongating the 'o' sound, "you missed my Task for a good reason then?"

The black-haired boy couldn't help but laugh. "You could say that. I was sick all of Tuesday night and, even though I was a little better yesterday, everyone was pretty firm about me not coming to school. I was better, but not well. If that makes any sense. Anyway, I'm really sorry about letting you down. I promised you that I'd support you through this thing, but I wasn't here on one of the three biggest days of the whole thing. I'm-"

"Don't say you're sorry again," Eric firmly interrupted. "I get it, you're sorry. I'm disappointed that you weren't there, but I don't really blame you. You had a really bad day and then you got sick. I'm just happy that you didn't skip it in purpose because you were mad at me."

"I feel like everyone is forgiving me too easily lately," Alex admitted.

"Just promise us one thing," the blond added.

"Anything."

"Talk to us, man. I don't mean like the other day. Talk to us before things get that bad," Eric said in real concern. "Let us know what is going on in your life. Like, right now. Tell us what has been going on with you. We're your friends and we want to help you, but you have to let us in."

Alexander stared at the older Wizard in surprise. "How long have you been practicing to say that?"

"Since Tuesday," Marcia answered with a smirk. "Not the part about missing the Task. He didn't add that until after he calmed down yesterday afternoon."

"Now quit stalling. Talk," Eric practically commanded.

"Okay," Alex said, setting down on top of the desk next to Eric's. "There were two problems that I've been dealing with; one you kinda know about and the other I've been keeping a secret from everyone."

"The one we know about is that you might have found some family, right?" the blue-eyed Witch tried to confirm.

"Relatives," Alex corrected. "Family is more than biology. At least, it is to me. Anyway, I lied to you about the specifics of how I found them. And the details aren't really important right now. What is important is that I may have found some relatives of mine and I will find out for sure tomorrow afternoon. And, beyond that, I'm still not sure what I'm going to do. I think I'll tell them about it once I know for sure, but I'm not positive on that just yet."

"Like I said the other day, that's heavy," Eric said with a nod.

"No details you want to share?" Marcia inquired.

Alexander debated it for a minute. He had his parents' permission to tell his friends; they were to be trusted, after all. "I just happened to stumble across a picture of someone that looked a whole lot like me. Or, I guess I should say the picture looks a lot like I did when I was the same age as the person in the picture. So, I arranged for a DNA test to determine if we're related. I'll find out for sure tomorrow."

"Do you know this guy already?" the older Wizard asked.

"Yes," Alex answered. "And so do you: Jonathan Potter."

"What?" both Marcia and Eric exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, it's really weird, I know. But there was this picture of Jonathan in the paper the other day from when he was little. It looked exactly like I did at the same age," Alex explained. "Charles Potter and I have the same eyes. And I was abandoned at a London hospital. It can all just be a bunch of weird coincidences, but I have to know for sure."

Eric and Marcia were at a loss for words. Neither knew quite what to say to that.

"Like I said, it's really weird."

"Yes," the Witch started slowly. "It most certainly is 'really weird'."

"You think you're related to the Boy-Who-Lived?" Eric asked after finally digesting the story.

"I don't know," Alex said. "But it seems to be a distinct possibility. If you saw the pictures . . . The resemblance was scary. If you held the pictures side-by-side, you would think they were pictures of the same kid."

"Except for the eyes," the Witch pointed out.

"The photo of Potter was black and white, so you couldn't really tell," Alex explained dismissively.

"After that, the other thing must seem like nothing," Eric mused aloud.

"I'm dating my adoptive brother," Alex said bluntly. "Who happens to be a vampire."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the Quodpot player said. "I don't know which part of that statement to try and take in first."

"You're adoptive brother is a vampire?" Marcia asked uncertainly.

"All of my family are vampires," the boy confirmed. "But you can't tell anyone. Only Headmaster Justinius and a couple people in the Department of Magical Affairs know about it. It won't cause on problems on our end, but other vampires would be really, really pissed if they found out about me. My family is sort of like the black sheep of the species, so it's best to just not cause waves. Plus, it would strike some vampires as a challenge to try and get at me."

"But, you live with vampires," Eric said slowly. "How can you not have a problem with the fact that you're living with people that feed off of human blood?"

"They don't," Alex responded hotly. "They eat animals only."

Marcia took a deep breath. "You're dropping a lot of bombs on us today."

"You're the ones that wanted me to talk to you," Alex defended lightly.

"I, for one, don't have a problem with anything that you've told me. It's a shock is all. I need a second to digest," she answered.

"I still want to know about the brother thing," Eric interjected. His voice wasn't disapproving, only interested.

"_Adoptive_ brother. I've been in love with him for a long time. And, it turns out that he feels the same way."

"Is that why you've been so sad lately?" Marcia asked in concern. "You didn't think he loved you back?"

"Yes," Alexander confessed. "But things are better know. He confessed how he felt, I confessed how I feel, and now we're together."

"It's good," Eric said as he thought it over. "But, is it weird for you? Dating your adoptive brother?"

Alexander laughed. "It was kinda weird when I first realized how I felt. But enough time went by between figuring it out and the two of us getting together that I don't think it is weird at all. I'm more worried about everyone else. Emmett hasn't made a single sex joke yet, and that is totally out of character for this sort of situation. Is this too weird for you to hear about?"

"No," Eric said with a shake of his head. "I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a surprise. But I'm so relieved that you're doing better. As long as you're happy with . . . wait, which brother is it?"

"Edward," Alex answered.

"If you're happy with Edward, I'm good. Besides, Purebloods marry and have kids with relatives all the time. It wasn't too many generations ago that brothers and sisters were paired together to try and keep the bloodline pure. You're not even blood relations, so as long as you don't feel uncomfortable with it, it's nothing I'm going to bat an eye at."

"Me either," Marcia agreed.

After a few more minutes of discussing Alexander's love life, the topic switched to the Second Task. Eric excitedly related the tale. The North Tower had been set up much like the South Tower had been during the First Task. This time, however, the top room just led to a different path that went back down through the Tower and a series of gates had been built on the paths to block the Champions' progress. It was a race.

Each gate could only be opened by casting a spell on it. To figure out what spell had to be cast, the Champion had to answer a riddle posed by a baby sphinx that sat in a little cage next to the gate. So, if the sphinx asked, 'What is so fragile that even speaking its name can break it?' the Champion had to cast _Silencio_ to open the gate. Why? Because the riddle's answer was 'silence.'

The twenty riddles that the little pyramid Eric retrieved during the First Task spouted off corresponded to the riddles that the sphinxes gave.

"All three of us had figured out the answers to all of the riddles in advance," Eric explained. "But only Bell figured out what to do with the answers before the Task. I caught on after about ten minutes, but Moreau took a long time."

"He got really frustrated," Marcia explained. "He tried just speaking the answers. When that didn't work, he got pissed off. He tried to demolish the gate and attack the sphinx before he finally figured out what to do. For such a quiet guy, he has a real bad temper."

"So what were the results?" Alex asked.

"Bell took first; I took second, again; and Moreau took third. I'm in the lead for the whole thing, though. Then Bell and then Moreau."

The sixteen-year-old Wizard couldn't hide his surprise. "He did that poorly?"

"He was way far behind everyone else," Marcia explained. "And Dumbledore and Justinius were really hard on him for going after the first sphinx. 'Poor sportsmanship,' they said."

"Well, that's great. Not the 'attacking a baby animal' thing, but the 'you being in first' thing," Alexander said with a smile to Eric.

Having resolved his issues to his two best friends, Alexander changed his focus to Charles Potter, his maybe-relative. When lunchtime rolled around, the Wizard plucked up his courage to approach the table that the Potter family, Cormac McLaggen, Hermione Granger, Katie Bell, and Draco Malfoy sat at during lunch.

Cara Potter was the first to notice Alexander make his way over. She shot out of her chair and raced to block his path. "Where do you think you're going? Because I know you're not nutters enough to think that you're going to be allowed anywhere near Charlie."

"I want to apologize to him," Alex explained. "I _need_ to apologize."

"No way," the redheaded Witch answered.

McLaggen joined Cara. "You heard her, Cullen. Just walk away."

To Alexander's surprise, Eric appeared at his side. "Alex just wants to apologize."

"I don't care," the Potter Witch said, her eyes never leaving Alexander's face.

"See, you're being a bit of a bitch," Eric said. "Alex is the only reason your little brother still has a pulse. The kid almost died because _you_ hang out with Malfoy; Alex jumped into your fight and saved your brother's life. Charles caught him on a bad day and got snapped at. Alex deserves the opportunity to apologize."

Alexander noticed that McLaggen's hand had strayed to his wand the moment Eric uttered the word 'bitch.' If it weren't for the fact that the eyes of half of the Dining Hall—including over a dozen professors—were on them, he would have tried cursing Eric already.

Cara Potter's face had gone bright red. She was no longer glaring at Alex, though. Her anger was focused on Eric. Whether it was because she'd been called a 'bitch' or because the American Wizard had all but blamed her for Ron Weasley's November attack, Alexander didn't know for sure.

Alexander looked past Cara to the table. Malfoy was only half-paying attention, but Jonathan and Charles were looking on with great interest.

The black-haired Wizard met Charles's gaze. After a moment, the younger boy got up and walked over to stand by his sister.

"I just wanted to invite you to my birthday party," the boy said softly.

Now, Alex really felt like scum. "I'm sorry, Charles. I wasn't feeling well, I had a family emergency, and, as you might have heard, I had just finished biting the heads off of my two best friends. It doesn't excuse me yelling at you, but I want you to know that I didn't do it because I was upset at you; I was just upset at the world. It had nothing to do with you. I didn't even realize that it was you who was trying to talk to me until after I yelled. I'm so sorry."

The red-haired boy continued to stare at him in silence.

"If it makes you feel any better, karma got the better of him. Alex ended up Apparating into the middle of the woods, almost got eaten by wild animals, and then stayed out in the rain so long that he got sick," Eric added helpfully.

Charles actually cracked a smile at that. "Apology accepted."

The tension in the air lightened considerably at those two words.

"And, I'm sorry I missed your birthday," Alexander added to his already substantial list of apologies for the day.

Charles nodded his head once before turning and, without another word, returning to his chair. Alexander watched him go and waited until he had seated himself by Jonathan before turning to go.

A hand shot out and caught hold of his arm. "You do anything, _anything_, to upset him again, and I'll blast you into so many pieces that not even Dumbledore will be able to transfigure the parts into something big enough for a funeral," Cara threatened.

Alex was left alone with Eric. The Quodpot player smiled at his younger friend. "Well, that went well."

By the end of classes for the day, Alexander was finally feeling confident about things. His life was shaping up rather nicely. He was certain that he'd be ready to open the test results on Friday afternoon.

Life, however, liked to throw little curb balls his direction in times like these.

When Alexander entered the Student Government Office at the end of the day to pick up a few papers that he wanted to look over at home, he found a brown package about the size of a book sitting on his desk.

The Wizard picked up the package and examined it. It was addressed:

'_Alexander Cullen_

'_Student Government Office_

'_New England Academy of Magic_'

There was no return address.

After examining the parcel for a few moments, Alexander decided to open it. He found a book inside. It was Rita Skeeter's '_Potter: A Legend of Lies_.'

A knot suddenly developed in Alexander's stomach. He still hadn't told Jonathan Potter that Rita Skeeter had caught him as he left the Yule Ball. The boy had hoped that nothing he'd said would end up in the book, but that was highly unlikely. After all, why would he receive a copy of the book several days before its official release if his answers to her questions hadn't contributed to it at all?

Alexander shoved the book into his bag and fled campus for home. He needed to see how much damage he'd caused the Potters and the best way to determine that was to take the book to his relatives and let them read it with vampiric speed.

It was a nervous Wizard that Edward found waiting for him a few hours later. He'd no sooner entered the house than Alexander practically pounced on him.

"I need your help," Alex said quickly.

"What is it?" the vampire asked, alarmed by his boyfriend's attitude.

"When I started to study Occlumency, it was with a book that I shared with Jonathan Potter. After the Yule Ball, a reporter asked me why I was meeting with him so much. I lied, of course. But now she's written a book about the Potters and sent me an advanced copy. I need to know if I'm mentioned in it. And I need to know soon, because the book goes on sale on Tuesday of next week and I really need to warn them if I've messed something up for them."

Edward looked into Alex's hands and saw the book in question. He took it from the mortal and examined it. "Not how I wanted to spend the evening, but I'll do it," the immortal said as he made his way to the couch and sat down.

"Really?" Alexander asked in relief.

"On one condition," Edward amended.

"Anything," the boy offered. He was struck momentarily by how often it seemed he was making that offer lately.

The vampire smirked before reaching up, latching on to Alexander's wrist, and pulling him down to sit next to him. The mortal was pulled flush against Edward's side. The bronze-haired immortal held the book open with one hand and kept his other arm wrapped around Alex's waist. "Sit right here," he purred before kissing Alexander on the neck.

"I can do that," the mortal said as he relaxed against his boyfriend's side.

Edward finished the book shortly before dinner. He didn't say anything as he read. In fact, he gave no outward indication that anything he read was the least bit interesting. He simply sat and read. He'd turn pages when necessary and, on occasion, he'd use his other hand to caress Alexander gently, but he was otherwise still.

"I don't believe that anything you said affected the book," the vampire announced as he slammed the book closed.

"Really?"

"She spouts a theory about Jonathan Potter suffering from psychological damage from the attack on him as a child. She suggests that he's using Occlumency to try and keep his emotions under control. At one point she almost hints that there is some kind of psychic link between Jonathan Potter and the Dark Lord, but she doesn't come out and say it directly."

"Probably because the British Ministry would destroy her if she published that. If there was a link and its affecting him, then that would mean the Dark Lord is out there somewhere. And they deny that," Alex theorized. "But she mentions the Occlumency?"

"Yes. She mentions it, but doesn't say how she knows he was studying it. Your name doesn't come up at all."

Alexander let out a massive sigh of relief. "That's good. I'll hand the book off to Jonathan tomorrow so that he can have as much advanced warning on what is in there as possible. But I'm in the clear." The boy hugged his vampire and kissed him briefly. "Thank you so much."

"If I would have known I'd get a kiss out this, I would have pushed myself to finish earlier."

Emmett made a gagging sound from across the room, eliciting laughter from Alexander and Alice.

"I am curious about one thing, though. Why would she send me the book if I'm not mentioned in it?"

Edward shrugged. "Maybe it was her way of showing you that she knew you were lying to her."

"Maybe," Alexander said uncertainly before smacking himself on the forehead. "I'm such a bad boyfriend, I completely forgot to ask you about your day. I mean, with that Swan girl and all."

Edward looked confused for a moment. "It slipped my mind that you were almost asleep when Carlisle received the call."

"What call?"

"There was an accident at the high school yesterday. Isabella Swan was hit by a car."

"What?"

Edward nodded his head. "The girl was hit pretty hard, but Carlisle was able to save her life. Just barely, though. She will be confined to the hospital for quite some time. It is uncertain at this point whether she will ever walk again," he informed his love.

"Wow. That's . . . That's so horrible," Alexander considered the situation for a few seconds. "I know it sounds awful for me to be thinking about, but imagine if you'd gone to school . . . it would have been so much worse. All that blood. And poor Jasper."

The pair let the topic drop at that point. Neither wanted to think about the consequences.

As planned, Alexander ambushed Jonathan Potter as he made his way out of the Dining Hall after lunch on Friday.

"Hey," the younger Wizard greeted as he jumped out in front of Jonathan.

"Merlin!" the eldest Potter said in surprise. "Don't sneak up on a bloke like that."

"Sorry," Alex said. "I was afraid that you wouldn't stop if I just tried to talk to you like a normal person, so-"

"You decided to take a page out of Diggory's book," Jonathan finished.

"Yes," the green-eyed Wizard confirmed. "With what happened . . ."

"Charles is better now, so I'm not going to fight you or anything, if that is what you were afraid of."

"I was expecting more of a cold shoulder," Alexander confessed. "And I couldn't afford that because of, well, this." He reached into his bag and produced the dreaded book.

"Skeeter's book?" Jonathan asked in shock.

"She tried to interview me back at the Yule Ball. She wanted to know how we knew each other. I lied and said we were talking about Quidditch and Quodpot. I think she sent me the book as a way of telling me that she knew that I lied to her," Alexander explained. "She knows that you were studying Occlumency, but I don't know how."

"Oh," Jonathan said. His demeanor became quite defensive at the mention of the mind art.

"I should have told you before, but I just kept getting sidetracked. Anyway, here's the book. It doesn't go on sale until Tuesday, so maybe there is something you can do about it. Stop its release or something."

"Unlikely, but thanks. If nothing else, I'll be better prepared for what's coming my way," Jonathan said as he was handed the book.

The strange meeting ended shortly after the book exchanged hands. Jonathan wanted to get through the book as soon as possible and Alexander was anxious to get through the rest of the day.

After dinner that evening, Alexander decided that he'd procrastinated enough. With the eyes of every member of his family watching him, he tore open the envelope that contained the genetic test results. He read them quickly.

Edward watched as Alex's brow furrowed. "And?"

"I have no idea what any of this means," Alex said before handing the papers over to his father.

Carlisle smiled lightly at his son before reading through the pages at lightning speed. "You and Jonathan Potter are related," he declared without preamble.

Alexander took in a deep breath. "So, I have relatives."

"More than that," the blond doctor said. "You're closely related."

"Closely related?" Esme asked sharply.

"According to this, you're probably brothers."


	18. Chapter 18

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 18: Seventeen: Going Public**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Sixteen – Going Public**

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Alexander requested with almost inhuman calm.f

"You and Jonathan Potter are both Wizards. Because that article you brought home noted that James Potter is a Pureblood, we assumed that you were most likely related to one another on his side of the family," Carlisle explained. " So we tested the Y chromosome of both samples to determine your most recent common ancestor. According to these results, you share the same father."

"So he's my _half_-brother," the mortal boy said quietly. "James Potter is my biological father."

Esme rose from her seat and walked over to her adopted son. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder in a reassuring manner.

The doctor finished examining the results. "At least half-brothers. This particular test can't determine whether you're full brothers or not."

"They can't be _full_ brothers," Edward interrupted evenly. "Esme met Alex's biological mother and it wasn't Lily Potter. And I read that damn book on the Potter family from cover to cover. There was Jonathan, then Cara, and then Charles; no mention of another son."

"What did it say about the time around when I was born?" Alexander asked, not taking his eyes off of the table. His voice was still unnaturally calm; it worried everyone.

"They had a child around that time, but it was a girl, Cara," Edward explained. "The Potters were in hiding for over two years. There were only the three of them when they went into hiding: the parents, Lily and James, and their son, Jonathan. They had Cara while in hiding, during the same summer you were born. But no one knew about her until after the Dark Lord fell."

"Was their any mention of an affair?" the Wizard asked quietly.

"What?" Esme asked.

"I'm a bastard," the green-eyed boy declared, his voice cracking a little.

"Alex-" his adoptive mother tried to argue.

"That's what it means, doesn't it? James Potter is my biological father, but Lily Potter isn't my biological mother. He cheated on her. He had an affair while they were on the run and I'm the result. That's why I was given up. I'm a bastard."

Edward reached over and took Alex's hands in his own. He rubbed them reassuringly. "You're jumping to conclusions. But even if James Potter had an affair, so what?"

"So what? It . . . it changes things. I was starting to warm up to the idea of the Potters being my cousins. I was probably going to talk to them about it . . . but now. If Lily Potter doesn't know about me, then my showing up out of nowhere can cause some serious family drama. Wives leave their husbands for this sort of thing."

Silence descended over the room as its occupants began to consider the implications of the statement. The only sound in the room was Alexander's breathing, which was becoming increasingly erratic.

"Breathe," Edward gently urged his love.

The mortal did his best to comply, but he was having a hard time with it. The news was so different from what he'd prepared himself for. He had a living, biological father. And three biological siblings. And he was a bastard. It was hard to take it all in.

After several ragged attempts at breathing normally, Alexander began to feel lightheaded. He began to blink rapidly, in the hopes of dispelling the stars from his vision. Then he tried to pull his hands from Edward's grasp so that he could steady himself on the table.

Edward, seeing the Wizard struggle, pulled him out of his chair and put him in his lap. "Follow my breaths."

The mortal did as he was told. He focused only on how his vampire was breathing and forced himself to match it. After a minute or so, he began to feel much better.

"Thank you," he mumbled once his breathing was totally under control. He slumped back against Edward and looked around the room as his family.

Everyone was totally still, which meant that they were all panicking. Vampires had to consciously think about their movements. The most surefire sign that a vampire was really caught off guard was when he or she was as still as a statue, not even blinking.

It was Emmett who decided to break the silence after several long minutes. "Giving yourself a weekend to let this sink in doesn't seem like such a bad idea anymore."

Despite the seriousness of the discussion, Alexander couldn't help but smile a little.

Alex hadn't reached any kind of decision about what to do with the new knowledge he possessed by the time he was preparing to go to bed that evening. As he pulled back the covers on his bed, he heard a knock on his open door.

"Can I come in?" Edward asked.

"You never have to ask; you're always welcome."

The vampire moved down the stairs. Alexander watched the movements carefully. He adored Edward's graceful, cat-like movements.

"Actually, I'm not. Esme has laid down a few new rules about that. I'm no longer allowed to be alone in here with you unless the door is open so the others can chaperone at a distance. And I am not allowed in here between the hours of midnight and six o'clock in the morning."

"What?" the Wizard asked in surprise.

"She doesn't see our relationship the same way as she did before. I'm your boyfriend now and that makes her a little bit uncomfortable about me being alone with you in a soundproofed bedroom," the immortal explained.

"Mom thinks that a century of sexual repression is going to get the better of you," Alex said with a smile.

Edward smirked and placed his hands on either side of Alexander's hips. "It might just." He leaned forward and placed a light kiss on the mortal's lips before moving down to his cheek, and then to his neck. The vampire relished the way his boyfriend's heart sped up as his lips worshipped the pale, delicate skin.

All too soon for Alex's tastes, his boyfriend ended the assault. "I was wondering how you felt about going on a date tomorrow night."

"Are you asking me out?" the green-eyed teen asked breathlessly.

"Yes. Dinner in Port Angeles followed by a romantic walk through the city. Come home and then go out into the woods and watch the stars for a bit."

"It sounds fantastic," Alexander commented.

"Is that a yes?"

"It's a yes."

Edward beamed at the Wizard. "Our first date."

"Unless you want to count the night you stayed with me when I was sick," Alexander joked. "So, not meaning to spoil the mood, but how is everyone doing up there Mr. Mindreader? I kinda left dinner in a hurry."

"You needed space; they understand that. And they're all coping as best they can. Everyone is being careful not to show it to you, but they're all having difficulties."

"And going to kick your ass!" Emmett's voice bellowed throughout the house. The door to Alexander's room was still open, so the whole household had heard Alex's question and Edward's answer.

"Well, they're not alone in the 'having difficulties' department," the mortal grumbled. "I've had a little time to think about this, and I've only come to one conclusion. So that there are no misunderstandings down the road: I'm a Cullen. I may have come from somewhere else first, but that's how everyone ended up here. I may decide to get to know the Potters. I may not. But whatever else happens, I know who I am and that's Alexander Cullen."

The vampire smiled broadly at Alex's affirmation.

Saturday seemed terribly long and tedious to the mortal boy. He cooked lunch with his mother and did his homework in his father's study just to be near them. But once he had no more homework or chores to occupy his time with, all he was left with was pondering his familial relationship with the Potters. He sat with Jasper in companionable silence for hours thinking about the situation, but it got him nowhere.

Alexander looked up at the clock on the wall and found that it was only a few minutes after two o'clock in the afternoon. He had almost three more hours to kill before his date and he just couldn't stand the thought of spending all of that time thinking about what to do with the knowledge that he was related to the Potters. So, he opted to use the time for something semi-constructive.

"Alice, Rosalie," he called to his sisters. Wherever they were in the house, he knew that they'd hear him from his place in the living room. "Would you please help me pick out something to wear to dinner?"

His sisters were at his side in no time at all, mischievous grins on their perfect faces. For the next several hours, he was at their mercy as they had him try on one outfit after another.

To the boy's relief, they didn't end up talking exclusively about clothes. A significant portion of the afternoon was devoted to the girls recounting their first dates with their mates. Alice recounted, in amazing detail, meeting Jasper in a Philadelphia diner. And then Rosalie told Alexander all about stumbling across a half-dead Emmett in the woods after a bear attack and running over a hundred miles with him in her arms so that Carlisle could turn the burly mortal into a vampire.

Alex was very familiar with the stories; he'd heard them all of his life. But, as he prepared for his first date, he developed a new appreciation for them. He also carefully catalogued the innate differences between the romances of the other couples in the family and his own budding relationship with Edward.

All in all, it was a very nice afternoon. Alex and his sister listened to music and shared stories as they sorted through his clothes. They bonded in a way that they all needed to.

A five o'clock sharp, Alexander emerged from the basement in a designer black suit like the one he'd worn on his birthday. His sisters had tried to make him ditch the glasses and wear contacts, but he refused; he hated putting the damn things in and invariably forgot to take them out before going to bed. They were far more trouble than they were worth.

Edward was wearing a grey jacket with a dark shirt underneath. Like Alex, he wore no tie.

Each was absolutely perfect in the other's eyes.

Before the two managed to actually get out the door, they had to endure their family's fussing. Emmett made thinly veiled threats to Edward about Alex's wellbeing; Esme went on and on about how nice the boys looked; and Jasper muttered something in the vampire's ear that the mortal couldn't hear, but that he suspected was another threat judging by the expression on the empath's face.

Naturally, Alexander had to ask Edward what Jasper had said as soon as the vampire pulled his Volvo out of the garage.

"He told me that, if I did not act like a perfect gentleman this evening, he'd use his abilities to make me have . . . inappropriate sexual responses whenever I was near Jessica Stanley."

The Wizard burst out laughing. "Jessica Stanley," he mused. "Isn't she the school gossip? The one that Emmett always complains about?"

"The one and only," Edward confirmed. "I'm so pleased you find this amusing."

"Well, it provides me with excellent blackmail material."

"I see how it is. I'm under your thumb from here on out. If I don't do as you say, you will complain to Jasper that I'm mistreating you somehow," the vampire said with a sly smile.

"Exactly," Alex said with a superior tone.

"You should know that I was under your thumb before this threat," Edward informed his date.

Dinner was fantastic. Edward did an amazing job of hiding the fact that he wasn't actually eating any of the food he was served with a few sleight-of-hand tricks and careful manipulation of his entrée. He also proved to be quite adept at keeping Alexander's mind off of the issue of his parentage.

"You're always taking care of me," Alex noted with a smile.

"I have a lot to make up for," Edward countered.

The mortal snickered. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Why do you want to be with me?"

"What a silly question," Edward commented.

"I'm serious. I want to know."

The vampire smiled at Alexander. "I love you. I want to be with you because I'm in love with you. I think about you constantly, I worry about you every second that we're apart, and your happiness means more to me than anything else in the world. I could give you a long explanation about our similar interests, our compatability, and my attraction to you, but it all pales in comparison to the feelings I experience whenever we're near one another. I could spend the next thousand years trying to put into words what I feel, but it wouldn't do the feelings justice."

The Wizard was absolutely speechless.

"Would you mind telling me why you want to be with me?"

Alexander laughed for a second. "After that, anything I say will sound really stupid."

"It won't."

"Can't I just say 'ditto'?"

"No," Edward replied with a smirk and a shake of his head. "What's the matter, you can ask the question but you can't answer it?"

"Well, I love you too . . . Jeez, it is really hard to try and put this into words. I don't know what to say, except that I'm not happy without you. The time when you were so distant from me was the hardest in my life. Even with everything else that is going on, I know that it will all turn out okay because you'll have my back. It's like you're a part of me and, when you're gone, I'm missing something."

Edward's smile broadened. "I don't think that sounded stupid at all."

"Glad to hear it."

After their meal, Edward and Alex strolled through the shopping district. The mortal sipped a cup of hot cocoa that they purchased in a small café as they walked and discussed what sites he'd like to see when the family went on its annual getaway during the summer months.

When they rounded a corner, they found themselves face-to-face with a group of five teenagers. They all seemed to recognize Edward on sight.

The first of the group was a very tall boy with greasy black hair and a very poor complexion. He was standing next to a tall, sweet-looking girl with brown hair and eyes. Standing in the center of the group was a teenager only a little bit taller than Alexander with pale blond hair, done up in spikes with either gel or glue. To his immediate left was a bored-looking girl with green eyes and cornsilk hair. The last of the five teenagers was a very petite girl with wild, curly hair.

"Good evening," Edward greeted the group.

"Edward," the girl with the curly hair responded with a sickly sweet smile. "I can't remember ever running into you outside of school before. What brings you to Port Angeles?"

"Just spending an evening out with Alexander," the vampire answered.

The eyes of all of the teens darted to the green-eyed boy with the cocoa. He gave them a small nod of his head. "Hello."

"I haven't seen you around Forks," the center teen said as he appraised the boy.

"Alexander goes to a school for the gifted back East, near where we used to live. He was doing so well there that our parents couldn't bring themselves to pull him out when we moved."

"'Our'?" the curly-haired girl parroted.

"I'm Emmett and Alice's younger brother," Alex answered for Edward.

"_Another_ Cullen," the girl with the cornsilk hair said in amazement.

The boy with the excess of acne quickly introduced himself as Eric Yorkie at that point.  
The rest soon followed suit. The girl he was standing next to introduced herself as Angela Weber. The spiky-haired boy introduced himself as Mike Newton. The girl to his right with the bored expression introduced herself as Lauren; she didn't give her family name. The last girl, the one with the curly hair, introduced herself as Jessica Stanley.

When Jessica introduced herself, Alex shot a mischievous look to his boyfriend.

"It's nice to meet you all," Alexander said once they finished.

"And you," Angela replied. "So, how long are you in town for?"

"Just the weekend," the green-eyed boy answered. "An unexpected opportunity popped up to spend some extra time with my family and I leapt at it."

"Cool," Eric Yorkie said with a few nods of his head.

"What about the five of you?" Edward asked, trying to steer the conversation away from Alexander. "What brings you to Port Angeles this evening?"

"Well, with everything that happened this week, we just felt like blowing off some steam," Mike Newton replied. "We tried to get Tyler to come with us . . ." he trailed off.

"I would imagine that, while it would do him some good, he is no shape to be out and about," Edward mused aloud.

"Yes, it's just horrible, isn't it?" the Stanley girl said. "I mean, Bella wasn't even at our school two weeks before the accident. Has your father mentioned anything?"

Clearly, the girl hoped to use this opportunity to squeeze a bit of gossip out of the vampire.

"He doesn't speak to me about his patients. I only know that he was called in to help out on the case shortly after the accident," Edward answered. "I hate to cut this short, but Alexander and I have plans that we don't wish to be late for. If you'll excuse us."

The immortal led Alexander away from the group. Everyone but Lauren waved and said either 'bye' or 'it was nice meeting you.'

"And that was Jessica Stanley," Alex said with a hearty laugh once the pair was out of earshot.

"I thank you _not_ to go poking fun about that right now," Edward muttered darkly.

"What's gotten into you?"

"I apologize. Some of their thoughts were rather infuriating."

"How so?" the Wizard inquired.

Edward looked at the expectant face of his boyfriend. "Lauren Mallory and Jessica Stanley's thoughts about you were . . . unkind. In the latter's case, it was the result of jealousy."

"Jealousy?"

"She has wanted me to ask her out for quite some time. Seeing us together and considering the way the rest of our family is paired up, she correctly deduced the nature of our relationship rather quickly."

Alexander couldn't help smiling. "I know her jealousy isn't something I should get a kick out of, but I do."

"You are not upset that she was thinking hateful things about you?"

The boy shrugged. "Not everyone's gonna like me. Besides, I've had to get used to the idea that there are going to be some heartbroken girls out there because of this." The word 'this' was explained by the way Alexander motioned back and forth between himself and Edward. "Imagine Tanya. She's gonna be pissed."

That thought brought Edward out of his sullen mood.

The rest of the evening was fairly quiet. Although the pair continued to talk about various topics now and then, they mostly spent the even in a pleasant silence. They finished their walk in Port Angeles before returning to Forks to walk around the woods and then watch the stars. The evening was capped off by a few minutes of passionate kissing in Alexander's room. With the door open, of course.

Sunday was a fairly lazy day for Alex. Edward went out for a hunt with everyone but Carlisle and Emmett. The doctor remained behind because of work he had to do at the hospital—presumably on the Swan case—and Emmett remained behind because he'd eaten the day before so that he could stay home with Alex.

Alexander spent much of the day playing video games with his brother. He was clearly distracted as they played. Although Emmett wasn't the best at the 'touchy-feely stuff,' as he often referred to it, he loved his mortal brother dearly and so eventually decided to try and see what was wrong.

"You still upset that you might be a bastard?" he asked bluntly.

"Have ever even heard the word 'tact' before?"

"Yes. But I think the direct route usually works best. Think about how much easier things would have been if you and Edward had just been upfront with one another."

"Point taken," Alex said as his character died yet again. "And no, I'm not concerned about that at the moment. I've decided that I'm going to try and get to know the Potters a little better and, if things go well, I'll tell them what I've learned."

"Not what I'd suggest," the curly-haired vampire said.

"Oh?"

"Like I said, the direct route is usually best. Either tell them soon or not at all. If you get to know them and then spring this on them, they're probably gonna be pissed that you went so long without telling them."

"Maybe," the mortal conceded. "But that isn't what's bothering me at the moment."

"Then what is?"

"Sex."

Emmett was so shocked by the boy's statement that Alexander was able to score a serious hit and kill his character. "Say what?"

"I've had the 'birds and the bees' talk already, but I'm not sure about actually having sex with Edward."

"Did he pressure you last night?" the burly immortal demanded, his controller cracking in his hands. "If he said anything at all that's made you think that you have to have sex with him, I swear to God I'll kill him!"

"No," Alex tried to calm his brother down. "Nothing like that. Edward has been the perfect gentleman. It's way too soon for us to be considering having sex; we've only had one date. We've been together for less than a week. The problem that I'm having right now is that I'm not sure if it is a possibility while I'm still, y'know, not a vampire."

"You mean you're afraid of getting hurt."

"Edward would never intentionally do anything to harm me, I know. But I'm not sure if the point when I'm ready to become a vampire and when I'm ready to have sex with my boyfriend are going to sync up," Alex explained. "What if I'm ready for sex before I am ready to become a vampire?"

"Okay, I'm a little out of my area of expertise; Rosie and I weren't an item until after we were both already vampires."

"That's part of it," the mortal interrupted. "I listened as Rosalie and Alice recounted the early days of their relationships with you and Jasper and I just couldn't help thinking about how different things are going to be for me and Edward because we're starting out with me as a mortal. Sex is really big part of vampire mating, after all."

"It is . . ." Emmett began carefully. "Well, the best advice I can give you is what I've been telling you all day: be direct. When you're ready, either to have sex or to become a vampire, talk to Edward about it. And Carlisle. If you don't give him forewarning, you run the risk of Esme killing your boyfriend. If you talk to Carlisle first, he might stand a chance of calming her down before things get out of hand."

"True," Alexander said before smiling at his brother. "This has really helped. Thanks."

"And give me a little warning before the next time you decide to talk to me about something like this. Ease me into it slowly," Emmett pleaded. "I'm having a hard enough time accepting that the little boy who used to ask me to tell him bedtime stories is now dating someone older than me."

When Monday rolled around, Alexander was confident that he had formulated an effective gameplan on how to deal with the 'Potter Situation,' as he dubbed it. He decided to take Emmett's advice and tell the Potters sooner rather than later. With his family's blessing, he would tell James Potter that he thought he was his son and let him take things from there. As James Potter lived in England, Alexander had decided to inform the man via a letter using the return address from the missive Lily Potter had sent him after the fight at school.

He would have sent the letter on Sunday, but couldn't; he didn't have an owl, after all. The boy would have to wait until Monday to send the letter. Fate, however, once again decided to interfere with his plans and accelerate things.

When Alexander porkeyed onto campus Monday morning, he arrived amidst pandemonium. Students and teachers were running back and forth in a state of utter panic.

By the time Alexander reached the central administrative building, he was filled with dread. The Student Body President was sure that his nightmare had been realized: the Tournament had brought disaster to his school. He was able to catch snippets of conversation along the way and heard words and phrases like 'collapsed' and 'not breathing.'

The boy rushed around the central building trying to find someone who could tell him what exactly was going on. He found Professor Brekenridge on the first floor near the main administrative room.

"What's going on?" he asked his favorite professor as he rushed to her side.

The woman's usually impeccably styled hair was a mess from running about in a frenzy. She took Alexander by the arm and led him into the administrative office so that they could speak privately.

"A Hogwarts student has been poisoned," she told her student in a hushed tone.

"Who?"

"Charles Potter."

Alexander felt like he was going to throw up. Charles Potter, the boy who'd looked up to him most of the year. The boy who, it turned out, was his relative. A half-brother, perhaps. He had been poisoned.

"Is he okay?"

The woman shook her head in the negative, her single lock of gray hair flying back and forth as she did so. "He's in critical condition. I've heard rumors that they can't figure out what he was poisoned with, but I don't know for sure. If they can't isolate the poison . . ."

The black-haired boy took a deep breath and tried to order his thoughts. "Do they know _how_ it was done?"

"No that I know of. It's still an assumption that he was even poisoned. One minute he was eating breakfast in the Dining Hall and then was suddenly on the floor seizing. Several items from his table have been confiscated by the Division of Magical Law Enforcement for testing, so I'm guessing that they believe that something was slipped to him here."

"W-What can I do to help?"

The professor smiled at her pupil. "Nothing; everything is in the hands of professionals now. Classes have been cancelled for the day. Because you weren't here when it happened, you should be able to go home; I'll write a note for you so that Ms. Lepon will make the necessary arrangements." The Witched summoned a slip of paper and wrote a quick note instructing the gatekeeper to portkey Alexander home to Forks.

"Charles is a friend of mine," the Wizard informed the Witch. "As soon as you know anything, please let me know."

"I promise," Professor Brekenridge said with a firm nod.

After taking the permission slip, Alexander left the administrative office, but he didn't go home. A boy who was most likely his little half-brother was sick, possibly dying. He couldn't leave without finding out if he was going to be okay.

The boy wandered around campus collecting the latest bit of news. Much of it was ridiculous nonsense, but every once in a while he was able to find a bit that sounded truthful. For example, one student received an owl from a cousin of hers that worked in the Division of Magical Transportation telling her that James and Lily Potter had arrived by international portkey.

At around noon, Alexander caught sight of Cedric Diggory leaving the Hogwarts train.

"Cedric!" the younger Wizard called out.

"Alex," the brown-haired Auror-in-training responded, "what are you still doing here?"

"Charles is a friend. I couldn't leave without knowing that he is alright." The way Cedric's face fell at his words, Alex knew that he had news. Bad news. "He isn't alright, is he?"

"No," Cedric answered before he, like Professor Brekenridge earlier, pulled Alexander to a secluded area to talk. "He isn't."

"What's wrong with him? Can't they find the poison?"

"They've tested everything on his plate and in his glass from breakfast and haven't found anything that will help. And his test results don't look good."

"How bad is it?" Alexander pressed.

"He's suffering from blood transfiguration poisoning."

"I've never heard of that."

Cedric shook his head. "You wouldn't, unless you're an Auror, a Potions Master, or deeply involved in the Dark Arts. Basically, whatever Charles was poisoned with was enchanted so that his body is now literally transfiguring his blood into more of the poison. In a few hours, there will be more poison than blood in his body. And the blood that hasn't been transfigured already has been tainted to the point that the stuff is showing up everywhere in his body. The Healers are trying their best, but they don't have what they need to save him."

"A sample of the original poison," the younger Wizard concluded.

"No, untainted blood. Charles needs a total transfusion of blood. A single drop of infected blood can't remain in his system is he's going to make it because that drop will carry the curse and keep replicating the poison."

Alexander's looked up at Cedric in confusion. "A total transfusion? Is that even possible?"

"Muggleborn, right?" Cedric asked. He didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "It's possible, with the right spells. The problem isn't the procedure, it's Charles's blood. They need an untainted sample. The cursed poison has already spread through his entire system, so they have to get what they need from an outside source. Just a little bit will do, but it needs to be a really close match to his. I'm no Healer so I don't understand it all, but I heard Professor Snape—the Hogwarts Potions Master—say that it needs to be from a close relative."

"How can that be a problem? He has his parents, his brother, and his sister."

Cedric shook his head sadly. "None of them are a close enough match. His mum is close, but not close enough. I told you, I don't understand it all." The Auror-to-be shook his head in disappointment. "If they had enough time, they might be able to purify some of his own tainted blood enough to use it as a basis for making enough blood for the transfusion, but Charles just doesn't have that kind of time left."

Alexander stood across from Diggory, his mind racing. "His eyes."

"What?"

"We have the same eyes," Alex muttered.

"You're not making any sense, Alex."

The green-eyed boy looked up at his date from the Yule Ball. "_I'm_ a close relative of Charles Potter's."

Cedric's eyes widened in surprise. "I don't understand, how could you be closely related to the Potters?"

"It's a very long story and we don't have much time. But _I am_ a close relative of Charles's. And I have the same eyes as him; his brother and sister don't. Maybe I have what they don't. Maybe I'm the match he needs."

"This doesn't make any sense," the trainee said as he watched Alexander draw his wand.

"How much blood does he need? I'm sure that, with Blood Replenishing Potions, I'll have enough to give."

"Only a little. They only need a small, untainted sample. They can replicate what they need from there."

With a circular motion, Alexander created a vial and then, with a hard slash of the little piece of wood, he magically cut a gash into his arm. He clenched his teeth to keep from yelling out as the white-hot pain jolted through his arm.

"Alex!" Cedric said in alarm as he watched the other teen cut himself.

The mortal held the vial to his arm and filled it with his blood. When he was finished, Alexander healed the gash, banished the blood and its stains, and repaired his damaged shirt. "You can get past all of the red tape, Cedric. Get this to the Healers. Please."

Cedric looked at the object of his affection. He'd thought the boy mad when he first started mumbling about having the same eyes, but now he knew he was serious. Whether it was true or not, Alexander Cullen firmly believed he was a close enough relative to Charles Potter that his blood might just save the boy's life.

"I'll do it," Diggory answered before taking the vial and rushing off.

Alexander turned to look at the insanity his beloved campus had become in the wake of the poisoning. With a sad sigh, he marched himself over to the portkey site and left for home. He'd done all he could. Now, it was time to wait.


	19. Chapter 19

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 19: Eighteen: Meet the Potters**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Eighteen – Meet the Potters **

Things in the Cullen household were very tense all day on Monday. Alexander returned home after the rest of the 'children' had only been away at school for about an hour. After the upset mortal returned and explained the situation to his mother, Esme had called Forks High School and had Edward, Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper excused from classes due to a 'family emergency.'

Given that it was Edward's first day back after a week's absence, the school administrators were none too pleased.

Carlisle wanted to return home, but was needed at the hospital. As there was nothing any of them could do but wait, Alexander insisted that his father remain at work to tend to his patients. Their lives depended on him, after all. And Alexander was in good hands with the rest of the family.

The Wizard and six of his vampiric family members sat around the living room contemplating what was happening. They all knew that, by giving Cedric Diggory his blood, the truth about Alexander's relationship to the Potters would be out there. There was no way the Auror trainee wouldn't be questioned about the origin of the blood sample. Even if he refused to divulge where he got the blood from, someone would piece it together. Too many people had seen Alexander pull the Auror-in-training aside for the green-eyed boy's involvement to go entirely unnoticed when the time came for the Potters to ask questions.

So they waited. And hoped that the blood would save Charles Potter's life.

For the most part, the vampires sat perfectly still. The only time any of the immortals moved was when performing some reassuring gesture for the benefit of their favorite and most loved mortal. And, in Esme's case, making lunch.

The Wizard, by comparison, couldn't sit still. He literally spent hours pacing about the living room, wringing his hands in anxiety for Charles's wellbeing. By late afternoon, though, he'd worn himself out with worry and so finally sat down and rested against Edward's side. At some point after settling down, he fell asleep.

"Alexander," a gentle voice came from above the teen.

The mortal boy clenched his eyes shut, not wanting to open them.

"Alexander," the voice tried again. This time, the mortal was coherent enough to identify the voice as Edward's. With a deep breath, he opened his eyes and looked up and into the immortal's amber eyes.

At some point after leaning against the vampire, Alex had not only fallen asleep, but had also been shifted so that he was lying down on the couch with his head resting in his boyfriend's lap. Someone had even draped a blanket over his body. Although it felt like he'd just closed his eyes for a moment to rest them, he knew that several hours had passed because the room was much darker than it had been when he'd sat down.

"What?"

"A letter has arrived," the bronze-haired vampire informed him.

Slowly, Alexander sat up and stretched. After rolling his head around for a second, his mind finally caught up with the situation and he became very alert. "Who is it from?"

"Brekenridge," Rosalie answered.

Everyone was sitting where they had been several hours earlier. The only significant change, other than Alexander's movements, was that Carlisle had arrived home and was standing by the front door with a heavy, sealed envelope in his hand.

Alexander got up and crossed the room to take the letter from his father. He broke the seal and unfolded the letter before reading it quickly. The letter was very short and to the point, so it took very little time to read.

"My blood worked; Charles is in stable condition," he announced. "She knows that I'm the source of the blood."

"Does she say whether anyone else knows?" Esme asked, concern leaking into her voice.

"It sounds like everyone who's anyone does. Justinius, Dumbledore, the Potters. But it says that Headmaster Justinius is keeping the location of our home a secret. Lepon has been forbidden from telling anyone on threat of losing her job."

"That's good, isn't it?" Emmett asked.

"I think so," Alexander replied. "She finishes by saying that we should be expecting a letter from the headmaster soon with more details."

As if on cue, there was a tapping on the window pane next to the front door. Another owl had arrived. Carlisle quickly opened the door and retrieved the letter. The owl didn't bother waiting for a treat or anything of the like; it fled from the vampire as soon as it had delivered the letter.

With another deep breath to calm his nerves, Alexander took the second letter from his father. This letter was much longer, so the boy read it aloud.

"'_Dear Mister Cullen,_

"'_As I am sure you are now aware, Charles Potter is in stable but serious condition. His life was saved by a total blood transfusion. The blood, I have learned, originated from you. The Potters are likewise aware._

"'_The Potters seem very determined to keep this matter discreet. To my knowledge, with the assistance of Headmaster Dumbledore, they have been able to contain the knowledge of the origin of the blood. Other than the Auror trainee who brought the blood to the hospital, the Potters, and Headmaster Dumbledore, only Professors Brekenridge and myself have been informed. I have sworn Cordelia to secrecy in this matter and have taken some additional steps to ensure your privacy. I should note that, publicly, the Potters are claiming that the blood that saved Charles Potters' life originated from a Pureblood relative of James Potter. _

"'_I and my deputy were only made aware of the source of the blood because Headmaster Dumbledore has, on the Potters' behalf, requested that I arrange a meeting between the Potters and yourself. If the matter were left entirely up to me, I would allow you to determine whether such a meeting were to occur and, if so, the time and place of it. Sadly, the decision is not entirely mine to make. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore has called in a number of favors owed to him by various officials in the Department of Magical Affairs to force my hand. Though they do not seem to know why the Potters wish to meet with one of my students, nor do they know which student the Potters wish to meet with, the Department is putting pressure on me to acquiesce. Secretary Eda herself sent me a missive a short while ago requesting that I make arrangements for the meeting._

"'_I have been successful in delaying the meeting until seven o'clock tomorrow morning. I have also been successful in preventing either Dumbledore or the Potters from obtaining your home address. Even if the Potters were to learn of your location, they are currently occupied by their youngest son's condition._

"'_As I have stated above, a meeting has been scheduled with the Potter family for tomorrow morning at seven o'clock. I shall send a portkey to you via the enchanted box shortly; it shall be large enough to accompany your entire family, should you wish for them to attend. It will activate at a quarter to seven tomorrow morning. As the nature of your family has been a closely guarded secret, the portkey shall take you and those accompanying you directly to the staff conference room._

'_Before closing, I wish to take a moment to tell you how proud I am of you for saving Charles Potter's life. You must have known that that action would add a great many complications to your life in the weeks to come, but you decided to donate your blood anyway. You did the right thing, not the easy thing._

"'_I promise that I will do everything that I can to assist you in the days to come._

"'_Julius Justinius_

"'_Headmaster_

"'_New England Academy of Magic_'"

"That's it," Alexander said folding the letter and handing it back to his father. "That's all it says."

"A meeting with the Potters," Carlisle mused.

"Who's going with us?" Edward asked the room.

Alexander smiled when he saw every hand in the room shoot into the air without hesitation.

After a light supper and a bit of discussion of the day's events and what to expect the next day, Esme began to shepherd her mortal son towards his room. He was totally drained from the panic and worry of the day, and so didn't object. Alexander did, however, have a request.

"Mom?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"I know the rules about Edward in my room. But, could he stay with me tonight? At least until I fall asleep?"

The vampire matriarch looked from Alexander to Edward. After only a second of deliberation and seeing for herself that the older vampire actually wanted to stay with her mortal son, she smiled. "Of course. But just this once."

The sixteen-year-old let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and allowed Edward to take over the task of shepherding him towards bed. Once the boy had changed and brushed his teeth, he slid under the covers of his bed and snuggled against Edward's side, taking comfort in the vampire's protective presence.

The immortal placed a short and gentle goodnight kiss on Alex's lips before the mortal fell into the deep sort of sleep that only comes about after a day that has left someone so exhausted that they can't even muster the strength to think anymore.

The entire Cullen family took hold of the portkey—an enchanted ruler rather than the traditional marble—at the appropriate time the next morning. It was the first time that any of the vampires had used a portkey. As expected, Emmett and Alice loved it and were immediately excited about the return trip.

The group was dropped onto one side of the large staff conference room of the New England Academy of Magic. They weren't alone; Professor Brekenridge and Headmaster Justinius were waiting for them.

"Greetings, Mister and Misses Cullen. Circumstances aside, it is a pleasure to see you again," the headmaster greeted after the family arrived.

The Cullen family had met the headmaster before. When Alexander first used a bit of accidental magic when he was eight years old, the Wizard had come to explain what had happened. He had been careful over the years to protect the nature of Alexander's family and had, as a result, earned the family's respect and gratitude.

After the family had greeted the headmaster in return, they were introduced to Professor Brekenridge. She was tongue-tied for the start of the introductions. Clearly, she'd not been forewarned that Alexander lived with vampires.

"I don't mean to be rude, Professor, but why are you here?" Alex asked his favorite teacher.

Cordelia Brekenridge had regained her composure by this point. "The Potters arrived earlier; they are waiting with two family friends and Headmaster Dumbledore. I thought it might be a good idea for you to have an extra friend in your corner. Also, I wanted to be sure that the minor catastrophe I created in Reynolds' office has kept him too busy to stick his nose into this."

"We really appreciate it," Alex replied with a grin.

The next several minutes were composed of small talk. The Cullens took turns going over to the large windows that overlooked the campus to take in the exquisite view of where Alexander had been going to school over the past several years. They also relayed their thanks for all that Professor Brekenridge and Headmaster Justinius had done for the boy over the years.

Edward and Jasper remained oddly silent for most of the small talk. Finally, the younger of the two ran across the room and picked up a bug from the window sill with inhuman speed.

"Edward?" Carlisle questioned in surprise.

"This beetle has been spying on us," Jasper answered as he watched the little terrified bug in Edward's hand.

"Okay, that's weird. Even for this family," Emmett guffawed.

"It's not normal," Edward defended. The way he spoke made it clear to everyone that he knew something was off about the beetle.

"Let me see it," the Charms professor said as she approached the immortal. She drew her wand and levitated the beetle from Edward.

As the little bug writhed in the air in a desperate attempt to escape, Professor Brekenridge cast a number of silent spells on the creature. After the fourth spell, she cried out, "An Animagus!"

"What?" Alexander said in alarm.

"It's a Wizard or Witch that can turn into an animal," Brekenridge explained.

The fact that the beetle was a Wizard or Witch in disguise explained why Edward and Jasper noticed it. Edward could hear its thoughts and Jasper its emotions.

"I know what an Animagus is," the boy replied. "What do we do with it?"

Cordelia Brekenridge's face morphed into a vicious smirk. "I don't like eavesdroppers." With a flourish of her wand, she created a bell jar. She then deposited the beetle inside, created netting over the jar's mouth, and then cast an Unbreakable Charm on the entire thing. "I'll deal with this little cockroach later." She then hid the jar in one of the cabinets that lined the wall and cast a spell over the cabinet that she assured everyone would prevent the Animagus from hearing the discussion that was to take place.

At five minutes before seven, someone attempted to open the door to the room. It was, apparently, locked. The doors shook several times as whoever was out the hall tried to enter. The shaking created a loud, reverberating sound that caught everyone's attention.

When the sound happened, the sixteen-year-old instictively moved to stand between his parents. Edward moved to stand behind his love and the other vampires moved in close to his sides.

The headmaster shot a questioning look to Alexander and his parents. After receiving their silent go-ahead, he flicked his wand and unlocked the door, allowing the other party to enter.

The first person to enter was a slight Witch that Alexander knew to be Lily Potter. Although she was rather disheveled and looked like she hadn't slept in quite some time, she was a very pretty woman with long, dark red hair that matched both Cara and Charles Potter's. Her most distinctive features, however, were her green eyes. They matched both Alexander and Charles's eyes perfectly.

The sight of those green eyes caused Alexander's stomach to do a back flip. The only photo he'd seen of her had been the black and white one printed in the _Daily Prophet_ almost two weeks before. Seeing her with eyes so much like his, the boy began to doubt his 'bastard son of James Potter' theory. As soon as she entered the room, those emerald orbs of hers locked on to Alexander and looked at him as though she couldn't get enough of the sight of him.

The second person to enter was James Potter. He looked rather like Jonathan Potter; tall with the same dark hair and hazel eyes. The Wizard hadn't shaved that day. The only Potter that Alexander knew of that wore glasses, James too looked at Alexander with great interest.

The third and fourth individuals to enter the room were Jonathan and Cara Potter respectively. They both looked unusually pale and stared at Alexander as though it was the first time they'd ever seen him.

The Potter family was followed by Albus Dumbledore. The old wizard's long white beard was tucked into the belt of his crimson robes. He looked at Alexander first, and then focused his attention on Professor Brekenridge and Headmaster Justinius.

The sixth person to enter the conference room was a tall, lean-looking Wizard with long dark hair and gray eyes. He was very handsome and walked with a swagger that was reminiscent of Cormac McLaggen. At the same time, he had a certain refined elegance about him that screamed 'Pureblood' and reminded Alexander of some of Cirilla's friends.

The last person to enter the room was an unassuming-looking Wizard. His light brown hair was showing a great deal of premature gray and his face bore a number of stress-lines. His unassuming and gentle demeanor vanished once he was fully into the room; his back stiffened and his hand settled on the wand in his pocket. Rather than being focused on Alexander like the rest of his companions, his eyes darted between the various vampires.

When the last of the group entered, Alexander noticed that Jasper, Edward, Emmett, and Rosalie all leaned in towards him slightly. It was as though they sensed some extreme danger from the last Wizard that they needed to protect Alex from.

Lily Potter made like she was going to move towards Alexander, but stopped when she saw the boy move further away from her and deeper into the protective fold of the assembled vampires. Hurt flashed on her face at the boy's action.

There was a long moment of tense silence in which the two groups sized each other up. The Potters and their friends were visibly surprised to find Alexander standing amidst a large group of vampires. Before too long, however, Professor Brekenridge cleared her throat. "I think we should shut the door, sit down, and introduce ourselves. It probably won't make things any less awkward, but at least we'll know everyone else's names for when we inevitably discuss each other in a disparaging manner later."

Several of the newcomers looked at the woman like she'd lost her mind. Alex and his family, by comparison, simply followed her instructions and sat on one side of the long table that dominated the room. The Potters and their companions followed suit and sat on the opposite side of the table, like business rivals at a contract negotiation, after the last of their group—the man who had first gone on edge at the sight of the vampires—shut the door.

Lily took things over at that point. She spoke directly to Alexander. "I'm Lily, this is my husband James. You already know Jonathan, Cara, and Headmaster Dumbledore, of course. This," she motioned to the dark-haired fellow, "is Sirius Black and the man on the end is Remus Lupin."

Esme led things for the Cullens. "My name is Esme. This is my husband Carlisle." She then motioned to the far end of the table and began work her way in, naming each vampire as she went. "Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, and Edward."

The vampire then put a hand on her mortal son's shoulder. "And this, of course, is Alexander."

"Harry," James Potter corrected firmly.

"I beg you pardon?" Esme asked.

"His name is Harry Potter."

"My name is Alexander Cullen," the Wizard in question bit back.

The people on the opposite side of the table seemed to be taken aback by the forceful way Alexander countered James.

Before a fight could break out, Headmaster Dumbledore began to speak in a slow, even manner. "I believe that we've jumped straight to the heart of the matter. You see, Mister and Misses Cullen, the mortal boy in your care is, in fact, Harry Potter. He is Lily and James's son."

"Bullshit," Emmett said quickly. When Remus Lupin and Sirius Black shot him dirty glares, he just folded his arms across his chest defiantly.

"Emmett may not have expressed it in the most eloquent of ways, but he is expressing what most of us are thinking," Carlisle said carefully to the room at large before focusing on Lily Potter. "We met Alexander's biological mother. She was a blonde woman-"

"That was his aunt, Petunia," Lily said. Her eyes were watery and her voice broke as she spoke. "My sister."

"Perhaps you should start at the beginning," Justinius suggested. "Explain why this Petunia would have had Alexander to begin with."

Lily was about to start speaking again when she was interrupted by Headmaster Dumbledore. "There are many details about that time which are confidential," he explained. "There are a number of safety concerns. I believe that the explanation of what happened is something that should be for Harry's ears alone."

"My name is Alex," the boy pointed out again.

"And we're staying with him," Edward added fiercely.

The Hogwarts head looked at Lily and James. It was clear that the redheaded woman wanted to explain, despite the old Wizard's objections. After reading her face for a moment, Dumbledore turned back to Alexander. "I can appreciate your desire for them to stay. But Headmaster Justinius and Professor Brekenrdige-"

"Stay as long as you and Misters Black and Lupin do," the green-eyed sixteen-year-old finished. He managed to keep his voice even, but just barely; the sixteen-year-old was on the verge of another panic attack.

Dumbledore, Lupin, and Black remained in their seats. There was another moment of tense silence that Brekenridge decided to break.

"So I guess that means we're all staying then," she said almost lazily.

Lily Potter found herself to be the center of attention at that point. She looked down at the table and took a deep breath as she tried to order her thoughts. After a minute, she looked up and began to address Alexander directly once again.

"Before you were born, your father and I learned that Lord Voldemort had targeted your brother, Jonathan, for death. We went into hiding. After having been in hiding for a few months, I discovered that I was pregnant with twins: you and Cara."

Alex's eyes moved away from Lily Potter and towards Cara for a second. The Witch—his supposed twin—returned his gaze for a moment before casting a hateful glance at the vampires.

"We were changing houses almost every week. On the run constantly. It was very difficult with you and Cara; it was taking a toll on your health. After a few weeks, James and I separated. I went and hid with you and Cara while your father continued to run with Jonathan. The Death Eaters didn't do what we expected. We thought that they'd focus on James and Jonathan, but they didn't. The kept hunting both James and myself.

"After a few more weeks, we decided we had to find a better solution. We had to hide you somewhere that Voldemort wouldn't find you. It couldn't be with another Wizarding family; the only families that we could trust leaving you with were already being targeted because of their association with us. We decided that the best place to hide you was in the Muggle world.

"We contacted my sister, Petunia. She had never liked magic, but she was still family. She agreed to take you in. To be sure of your wellbeing, Headmaster Dumbledore had a Squib ally of his take up residence in the same neighborhood as Petunia and her family. She was to keep an eye on the two of you from a distance and alert the headmaster if anything happened."

Lily stopped speaking for a moment. She licked her dry, chapped lips before continuing. "After about a year, the separation was just too much. We decided to try a new tactic. We put every protection imaginable on our home, including the Fidelius Charm. It's a spell that-"

"That hides a person, place, or thing. The only people who can find what is hidden are those who are told its location by a specified person, called a 'Secret Keeper.' The Secret Keeper holds the knowledge of the location in his or her very soul and can only give up the Secret willingly," Edward stated.

Alexander wondered if his boyfriend and plucked that knowledge out of Lily Potter's head in an attempt to throw her off balance or if he'd read it in one of his school books.

"Y-Yes, that's right," Lily Potter stammered. "We waited a month after we set up the Fidelius Charm, just to makes sure that it worked. Once we were positive it had, we went to retrieve you and your sister. We . . . Petunia . . . I," she tried to speak, but became too choked up for her words to make any sense.

James Potter shook his head before taking over the story. His voice was far gentler than Alexander had expected it to be. "You weren't there. Cara was, but you weren't. You'd used a bit of accidental magic and scared your cousin, Dudley, several weeks earlier. You'd been in her house for so long that Petunia began to think that we'd just left you there for good. She refused to have in the house if you were going to be doing magic, so she took you into London and left you at a hospital there.

"The Squib that had been on the lookout had been so focused on looking out for Death Eaters around that time that she just didn't notice that one of the three small children in the house was missing. We found out that you were missing on the same night that Voldemort attacked our home." The Wizard hesitated for a moment at this point in his story. "He killed my father, Charlus, who was babysitting Jonathan for us that night. Voldemort fell in his attempt to kill your brother, Jonathan was declared the Boy-Who-Lived, and the war ended on the same night we'd learned that one of our children was missing. Everything was in chaos. By the time we were able to get to the hospital that you were abandoned at, any trace of you was long since gone."

"But the woman, this Petunia," Esme argued. "She said she was Alexander's mother."

"No, she didn't," Edward said as he saw the memories of Lily, James, and Esme play out in their respective minds. He addressed his adoptive mother, practically ignoring the Potters. "She entered the hospital and handed Alexander to the first person she saw: you. As she started to leave, you asked what she was doing and she answered, 'I won't have him in my house any longer.' You then protested, 'But he's your son.' Petunia looked at you and said, 'Family or not, I won't keep him for another minute.'

"She never actually said that Alexander was her son. She only said he was family," Edward finished.

Esme went perfectly still. To somehow unfamiliar with vampires, she appeared to be very calm. But anyone who knew much about vampire behavior knew that she was beginning to panic.

"It still doesn't make any sense," Alex said quietly in a voice devoid of almost all emotion. "If I used underage magic in a Muggle home, even as a baby, the Trace would have detected it and alerted the Ministry. Someone would have come to investigate the magic and there would have been a paper trail. Rita Skeeter would have found it and published it in her book."

"I took care of that, my boy," Dumbledore answered. "I feared that, should you or your sister use a bit of underage magic, Death Eaters who had infiltrated the Ministry would have been able to find a record of it. While it wouldn't have been obvious who you were just from the Ministry's limited records, it would have been obvious that underage magic was used in a Muggle home. Death Eaters enjoyed targeting Muggle families with a Witch or Wizard who was too young to defend them.

"I feared that you'd be discovered and either hurt outright or, should the Death Eaters somehow discover who you were, used as leverage against your parents. So, I placed someone in the Improper Use of Magic office at the Ministry and charged her with expunging the records if and when they appeared. When her task was finished, she allowed me to Obliviate her. So you see, there was nothing left for Miss Skeeter to find."

Alex Cullen's hands were shaking under the table as he absorbed all of what he'd just heard. He reached one hand out for Esme and the other for Edward. The vampires on either side took his hands in theirs and squeezed them reassuringly.

"Why did you keep him alive?" Remus asked suspiciously.

"We would never hurt Alex," Jasper protested. "We don't feed from people, only animals. Our mother was handed a child that needed to be loved and cared for and we took him in. And we do love and care for him. He's part of our family."

Dumbledore's brows furrowed. "You didn't know that he was a wizard?"

"No," Esme answered.

It wasn't a lie. The family didn't know that Alexander was a Wizard until he accidentally levitated a cookie jar off of the kitchen counter when he was eight years old. Esme had told him that she wouldn't let him have a cookie until after dinner, so he magically retrieved the cookie himself. Because the family lived in the States at the time, the underage magic had been detected by the Department of Magical Affairs. The Department had no record of a magical child in the area, so they assumed that the magic had been performed by a Muggleborn and so dispatched Headmaster Justinius to explain what had happened.

What the family _had_ known about Alexander at the time they adopted him was that he possessed some natural talent that hid him from Alice's foresight. They simply assumed that it was an innate, supernatural ability like many other humans possessed. Alice herself has had premonitions as a mortal. The Italian coven that acted as rulers and police for all vampires, the Volturi, often recruited mortals with such powers into their coven to increase their own power.

But the bottom line was that family had taken Alexander in, not because of this supernatural gift, but because he was a child that needed to be loved. Esme and Rosalie had both wanted a child of their own to love and raise, and this presented the perfect opportunity.

After a few more moments of tense silence in which the Cullen Wizard refused to look up from his reflection on the polished wood table, he asked, "How is Charles?"

"He's doing much better," his newly-discovered biological mother answered.

"Any clue as to who poisoned him?"

"I believe that we are straying from the topic-" Dumbledore tried to steer the conversation in a different direction, only to be interrupted yet again.

"I'm trying not to have a full blown mental breakdown right now," Alexander said, his voicing rising to the point that he was almost shouting. "I need a few minutes to digest this. So, if I want to 'stray from the topic' for a minute, then I damn well will stray from the topic!"

The room was totally silent for over a minute following the boy's outburst.

"There are some theories," James answered eventually. "Nothing solid. It could have been one of Voldemort's people or a rouge faction of the Ministry."

Alexander laughed bitterly. "Oh goody, I forgot to figure into all of this that being related to you is going to put a giant target on my forehead."

"Harry-" James started.

"For the last damn time: my name in Alexander!"

"You don't have to be such a prat about this!" Cara Potter snapped, speaking up for the first time. "You'd think that finding out you had a real family out there would be a good thing!"

Alexander started to jump up but was pulled back down into his chair by the firm grip that both Esme and Edward had on his hands.

"Cara," Lily chastised softly. Her daughter frowned and looked away defiantly.

"So, everything it out in the open now," Carlisle said evenly. "The question is: where do we go from here?"

"That's obvious," Sirius Black spoke up. "Harry goes home."

"If by 'Harry,' you mean 'Alex.' And by 'goes home,' you mean 'leaves with the people he came here with,' then we're on the same page," Rosalie said superiorly.

"He's _our_ son," James responded.

"We're the only family he's ever known. He's my brother," Alice countered. "It should be his choice."

"You can't honestly think that living with a bunch of vampires, even if you do only eat animals, is a better home than with his flesh and blood," Remus argued hotly.

Jasper growled lightly. "That's pretty rich coming from a werewolf. And let's not forget the Potters' track record for their children getting hurt."

"Watch it!" James shouted indignantly.

"We'll fight for him," Lily Potter stated. "You're vampires, you don't even have full citizenship rights. You know that the courts will side with us."

"We'll fight for him too," Esme said firmly. "Even with our status as vampires, the courts will listen to what Alex wants. With the way you've been portrayed in the press for the last couple of years, we stand a fighting chance. Even if we can't win, we can certainly draw this thing out for months. Until his seventeenth birthday, at least. Then it won't matter. Alex will get to make his own choice."

Alexander wondered how well any attempt by his family to fight for him in court would go. The issue of vampirism aside, the Cullens had never _legally_ adopted him. Like the identities they used in their day-to-day lives, all of the necessary documents were purchased through an upscale lawyer that Jasper knew who dabbled in fake passports and the like on the side. Of course, how likely was it that a Wizarding court would bother checking the authenticity of the documents?

Lily's mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to think up a response.

"I have a solution," Alexander interjected. When he spoke, the room quieted. "I won't let you take me away from my family. But I do want to get to know my biological . . . relatives." He turned to Dumbledore. "So you're going to move your staff out of the dorms they've been assigned to in this school and onto the train. The rooms will be converted for the Potters' use on weekend. They will stay here, on campus, during the weekends. And so will I. The Potters will get me from Friday night until Monday morning, I will stay with my family from after school on Monday through Friday morning. Kinda like a divorced couple."

Lily and James looked like they were going to protest, so Alex cut them off.

"Even if you got custody of me, you wouldn't see me until the summer anyway. And then you'd just get a hateful teenager for a couple of months; I'll never forgive you. Then I'll turn seventeen and be gone forever. You want a relationship with me? This is how you do it. You let me get to know you, but you don't cut me off from my family."

The Potters continued to hesitate.

"You said it yourself, _you_ _owe_ _me_," Alexander added, anger seeping into his voice over the situation.

Lily's eyes widened at the reference to the letter she had sent him after he'd saved Charles's life from Ronald Weasley's Slashing Hex.

The redheaded woman looked over at her husband. "James, please. It's the only way. The other option is to fight it out in court. It would take a long time. Even if we win quickly, we won't see him until school is dismissed for the year anyhow. And then he'd just resent us until he turns seventeen."

James continued to scowl at the vampires. "What about the summer?"

"We decide that closer to it," Alexander answered. "After we get to know one another."

The Potter patriarch continued to frown, but nodded his head. "We're agreed then."

"I think, then, that it would be best, Mister and Misses Potter, if you and your children were to leave now," Justinius said. Before they could protest, he continued. "Charles needs you now. Alexander is in excellent hands."

Lily and James Potter weren't happy at being forced out, but left after a few quick goodbyes to their long-lost son. They clearly wanted something more substantial, but it wasn't going to happen; Alexander refused to even get up from his chair. Everyone that came with the Potters, including Jonathan and Cara, left when they did.

"Alex," the headmaster began gently after the Potters left. "I believe, under the circumstances, that you are entitled to day with your family. You are excused from classes."

"Thanks you, headmaster," the mortal boy said in relief as he leaned against the back of his chair. He just sat there for several long minutes before finally looking over at Professor Brekenridge. "What about the beetle?"

"I'll take care of it," the woman answered in her thick, Boston accent.

Alexander nodded his head numbly. A few minutes later, he was back home.

A/N1: Underage magic and the Trace. I'm operating under the theory that the Trace is territorial in nature and so reports underage magic to the authorities in charge of the area that the magic is used. For example, if Hermione cast a spell while her family was vacationing in France, the French Ministry would be alerted. I think this makes the most sense as it would be a violation of the French Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery as opposed to the British one and it would be the French Ministry that would potentially have to send in the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, Obliviators, etc. So Alex's underage magic was reported to the American Department of Magical Affairs, not the British Ministry. Further information on why he wasn't found before now will be discussed in later chapters.

A/N 2: For those who are curious, Alexander's adoption documents were obtained by the Cullens through J. Jenks. He is a character in "The Twilight Saga" who supplies the Cullen family with their fake IDs, passports, birth certificates, etc.


	20. Chapter 20

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 20: Nineteen: Building Pressure**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Nineteen – Building Pressure **

On Tuesday afternoon, Alexander and Edward decided to go for a walk in the woods around the property. It provided the vampire with an opportunity to gauge just how well his boyfriend was handling the recent revelations and his subsequent agreement to spend his weekends with the Potter family.

"I'm surviving," Alexander answered. "It wasn't what I expected, that's for sure."

"Are you happy with this opportunity? The chance to spend some time with your birth family?"

"That sounds so weird. Calling them 'family' of any kind. They're strangers. Sure, I know Charles pretty well. And Jonathan and I chatted for a few minutes each day when we were both learning Occlumency, but that's pretty well it. I've spoken to Cara, like, a total of three times."

Edward settled his left arm around the mortal's shoulders. "You dodged the question."

The green-eyed Wizard sighed. "I'm glad they agreed to do things on my terms, that's really as far I'm sure of my feelings at this point. I haven't been interested in finding my birth family since I was little, so it's not like some great, powerful wish is being fulfilled. It's . . . unexpected. Right now, it hasn't risen to the point of being _either_ bad or good. Except for me not liking how they spoke to you all. That was definitely bad.

"But then there are all of these unanswered questions that I have. Like, why there was no mention of me in Skeeter's book? How does she miss something big like that? I mean, if I was missing, there should have been a search, right? How could Skeeter miss something that big unless, of course, it didn't happen. And if it didn't happen, then why not? And the worst part of these questions is that I'm afraid that once I ask them, it will put an end to the whole thing. They'll tell an obvious lie or they'll give me a really bad answer and I won't want anything to do with them anymore. Any chance I have of really getting to know Jonathan and Charles and Cara just goes right out the window."

"I can understand your feelings."

"Can we change the subject? Please?"

"Of course," Edward conceded. "What would you like to talk about?"

"I don't know. Anything. Everything."

"How about why you decided to talk to Emmett about sex?" the vampire asked slyly.

Alexander smacked himself on the forehead. "It'd completely slipped my mind that I had that chat with him."

"You had to have known that I'd find out. Emmett was thinking about it the next time I saw him. He was thinking about that chat and about the various things he'd do to me if I hurt you in any way."

"I knew that you'd find out. But I'm actively trying not to censor myself because you'll find out about it by reading someone else's mind. It would be disingenuous of me."

"I have to ask," the vampire started slowly, "have I pressured you in some way that I've not realized? Has something I've done made you think that I'm impatient?"

"No!" Alex answered quickly. "I told Emmett the truth; you haven't done anything. But it's been on my mind lately. I mean, I'm sixteen and I'm kinda anxious and spend a lot of time thinking about that sort of thing. You've been seventeen for the better part of a century, so . . ."

"So I can wait as long as you'd like to wait. We're just starting out, Alex; I'm in no hurry. Do I want to make love to you? Of course. But time passes differently for a vampire, as you well know. A span of a few months or even a few years is a very short period of time to me. We wait until you're ready."

Alex smiled at his boyfriend. "I knew you'd say something like that."

"Of all the people to talk to about sex, why Emmett?"

The mortal laughed. "Well, he was home at the time. Also, look at my options. I wasn't ready to talk to you just yet, Mom and Dad were definitely out of the question, as were Alice and Rosalie. That just left Jasper and Emmett. And, while Jasper and I certainly are closer now, we're not 'sex talk' close. Not yet, anyway."

"And he'd hit me again," Edward added playfully.

"And he'd hit you again," Alex agreed.

As they made their way into the house, Edward stiffened. Before Alexander could ask him what was going on—what the vampire had read in the minds of his family—he was pulled into the house by his boyfriend. The other vampires were in a tense conversation when the duo entered the living room.

Seeing the concerned faces of his relatives, Alexander became irritated. "Oh, no. No! Not again. Something else is has clearly gone wrong, but it can't. Because everything that could possibly go wrong has already gone wrong over the past couple of days."

"Alexander," Esme interrupted sternly, "how long have you been friends with Jacob Black?"

The question caught the boy completely off guard. He tried several times to answer, but he was so stunned that nothing intelligible came out of his mouth.

"August," Edward answered for him.

"You knew about this?" Rosalie demanded hotly.

"Yes," Alex's boyfriend replied.

"I met him in the woods, on our property. He was nice enough and everything, so I gave him my cell number. We've talked a bunch, but I swear I haven't told him my last name. He thinks I live on the other side of the country," the mortal quickly explained.

"Not anymore," Emmett muttered.

"Alexander Cullen," Esme scolded, "how could you have kept this from us? You knew how important it is that the Quileute Elders don't learn of your presence here."

"Jacob was trespassing," Edward attempted to placate his mother. "He saw Alex before anything could have been done about it. And Alex has been very careful not to reveal anything about whom he really is or where he lives. If Jacob Black found out that Alex is part of our family and coven, he found out some other way."

"That's right," Carlisle said. Esme started to say something, but her husband began speaking first. "Alexander's friendship with Jacob Black is his own business; that wasn't how they found out. The only consequence of the friendship is some hurt feelings on Jacob's part."

Alexander flinched at that.

"How _did_ they find out?" Jasper asked his adoptive father.

"The date. When Alex and Edward went on their date over the weekend, they ran into a few students from Forks High School, which we already knew. One of them went to visit Isabella Swan in the hospital and mentioned Alexander to her in the course of some other gossip. Charlie Swan was there visiting his daughter at the time, along with Billy Black."

"And Billy Black told Jacob?" Alex questioned.

"No, he was there with his father. Your first name and your description matched."

"So what now?" Edward asked. "Do we move?"

"It is an option," Carlisle conceded. "I'd like to try and work this out first, if at all possible. I've arranged a sit-down with Billy. One or two other members of the tribe will be there as well. They also insist that Alexander attend. They want to see with their own eyes that he's okay."

Jasper and Rosalie growled at the implication that their little brother would be anything but well-cared for.

"When is the meeting?" Alex questioned, a headache coming on.

"Next Monday. They need someone to be at the meeting that is currently out of town and can't return until the weekend. As Alexander will be away for the weekend, Monday evening is the earliest we could arrange. In the meantime, Alex, I would suggest not trying to contact Jacob Black."

Alexander nodded his head, silently wondering when his life became so melodramatic.

The first thing the Wizard did when he returned to school on Wednesday was to seek out Eric and Marcia and fill them on all of the things that had happened to him that week. The pair was shocked, to say the least. Alexander had been so certain that he was only a cousin or some other distant relative that they were totally blown away by the news that he was actually the younger brother of the Boy-Who-Lived.

As Alexander found out during the day, everyone was talking about the Potters. Students were looking at the family in suspicion and fear.

Charles Potter had been poisoned on Monday and then Skeeter's accusation-filled book had been released on Tuesday. Some were suggesting that an unstable Jonathan Potter had poisoned his own brother to try and get a little bit of attention. A few, however, believed that the Dark Lord had returned and that Charles had been poisoned either in revenge against the Potter family or in an attempt to kill Jonathan that had gone wrong. Regardless of the theory, everyone seemed to think that the Potter family was trouble.

Though he saw Cara and Jonathan Potter from a distance as they left the Dining Hall at the end of breakfast, the first chance Alexander actually had to talk to either of them didn't come until lunch.

When Alex entered the Dining Hall, he found that Jonathan was sitting at a table with Katie Bell, Hermione Granger, and a perpetually nervous-looking Draco Malfoy. Cara was sitting on the other end of the room with Cormac McLaggen. Though the Potter children didn't always sit together at meals, it was unusual for them to sit on totally opposite sides of the Dining Hall.

Plucking up his courage, Alexander made his way towards Jonathan's table. His biological brother caught sight of him shortly after he entered the room and, seeing Alex heading his way, stood up from the table and went to meet him.

"Hello," the green-eyed teen said.

"Afternoon," Jonathan replied.

"I, uh, was wondering how Charles was doing."

"He's doing better. He's still sleeping most of the time, but the Healers say he should be free for dinner Friday night."

"That's great," Alexander replied, his voice full or relief. "I was really worried about him."

"Why wouldn't you be? It's natural to be worried about your little brother," Jonathan said in a hushed tone so as not to be overheard.

The younger Wizard stumbled over a few words as he tried to recover from the shock of hearing someone actually call Charles his 'little brother.' Somehow, that notion hadn't sunk in before. "Does he know?" Alex asked after a few seconds.

"No," the older teen replied. "He still sleeps most of the time and the Healers said that we need to avoid adding unnecessary stress to him. We'll tell him as soon as the Healers give us the go ahead for telling him earth shattering news; it will be before Friday for sure, though."

"Don't wait any longer than necessary," the younger boy insisted. "He might be upset if he thinks you've been keeping it a secret from him."

"Like you kept it from us?"

"That's not the same," Alexander argued back. His voice rose just enough that it caught the attention of some of the people sitting near where the two estranged brothers were standing. He forced himself to lower his voice. "I thought I was James's bastard. I was trying to send him a letter to let him know that I existed so that it wouldn't upset your mom if she didn't know about me."

"_Our_ mom," Jonathan corrected firmly. He looked irritated at Alexander for a moment, but it passed quickly. "Do you want to sit with us?" he offered kindly, motioning to the table behind him.

"No. No thank you," Alexander replied quickly. The offer had come out of the blue, in his opinion. "I'm still trying to adjust to all of this. We'll be spending all weekend together, so let's not try to push it too much, okay?"

"Alright," Jonathan answered. He tried not to look disappointed, but Alex could tell that he was. "I understand."

"Cara doesn't," Alex muttered.

"Cara doesn't understand a lot about this situation," Jonathan replied, turning to look at his sister.

"But you do," the New Englander noted. "Ever wonder if you were supposed to be the Ravenclaw and she was supposed to be the Gryffindor?"

The Hogwarts student laughed. "All the time."

The pair left one another at that point; Alexander to join Eric and Marcia, Jonathan to rejoin his own table.

The rest of the day drug on and on. Alexander spent the period between when classes were dismissed at the New England Academy and when classes were dismissed at Forks High School working in the Student Government Office. Or rather, he was sitting in the office pretending to do work when what he was really doing was trying to organize his thoughts about the strange situation he found himself in.

The teen was actively avoiding doing any work that could be put off until the weekend. That way, should things become tense during his first stay with the Potter family, he could use the excuse of having to do homework to avoid socializing with them. Alexander hoped that they would all get along just fine, but he wanted to be prepared for the worst.

At a few minutes after four o'clock, the door to the office opened and Professor Cordelia Brekenridge let herself in. She was holding a large stack of parchment in her arms.

"Afternoon, Alexander," the professor greeted as she made her way over to the president's desk.

"Good afternoon, professor," the boy replied.

The Witch unceremoniously dropped the stack of parchment on the desk and smiled sweetly. "You can't say that I've never given you anything."

"What is this?" the green-eyed teen said as he began to flip through the first couple of pages.

"Three assignments for the Student Body President. Number One: Plan a Valentine's Day dance. Two: Plan a field trip. Three: Plan the awards ceremony for the end of the Tournament."

Alexander was more than a little bit shell-shocked and the sudden influx of work.

"I thought that you'd like to have a good excuse to avoid the Potters this weekend if things went sour," Professor Brekenridge explained. "So, I thought planning a few things would be an excellent distraction."

The Wizard laughed out loud. "I've been putting all of my homework off until the weekend for exactly the same reason."

"Great minds and all that."

Alexander smiled at his professor. "Something like that, I'm sure."

"Headmaster Justinius has tentatively authorized the field trip idea, but he will only give final authorization to each trip on a case-by-case basis after he sees your proposal. Reynolds is pissed, so think of that as an added bonus. The Valentine's Day dance is all in your court. As for the awards ceremony, there are a number of traditional rules that you have to follow, so it's not very creative. Unless you count the seating chart for the VIP box. But arranging everything will be time consuming."

"And it gets you out of having to plan it," Alexander pointed out.

"_My_ added bonus," the professor laughed. After a shot pause, she asked, "How are you handling things? I saw your rather weird interaction with Jonathan Potter at lunch."

Her pupil shrugged at her. "The whole thing is weird. Sometimes I'm excited about the prospective of getting to know my biological relatives, other times I'm afraid. A lot of the time though . . ."

"You resent the Potters."

Alexander looked down in guilt. "I know I shouldn't, but I do. I had a plan. I knew where I was and who I was and I knew where I was going. Now, everything is so much more complicated. The Potters didn't ask for any of this, I know. I've looked at things from their perspective. From where they sit, they just stumbled across a son that they lost years ago and are struggling to get him back. It doesn't seem fair of me to be angry at them for all of this, but I am a lot of the time."

"Are you angry at the Potters or the situation?" Brekenridge questioned her student.

The sixteen-year-old had to sit and think about that question for a long time. "Mostly the situation, I guess. I don't like how the Potters treated my family, but most of my irritation is at how trapped I feel. No matter what I do, someone is going to get hurt. If I like the Potters, I run the risk of making my family feel like I'm replacing them. But if I don't like the Potters, they get hurt and, well, that's not really fair either."

"How is it not fair to dislike the Potters? There are many people in this world who dislike their family. Do you think Lily Potter likes her sister, Petunia?"

"Probably not," Alex conceded. "But she has reason not to."

"Maybe you'll have a reason not to like the Potters. Maybe you'll like them and they'll be just some extra people in your life that care about you. You won't know unless you take the time to get to know them." Professor Brekenridge watched as Alexander Cullen struggled with the situation for a few moments. Then, she decided to confess something of her own to the boy. "I haven't spoken to my father for ten years."

Green eyes darted up from the desktop to meet the baby blue eyes of his mentor.

"You met him at the meeting with Secretary Eda last fall," the Witch added.

Alexander thought back to the meeting. He remembered a member of the Board of Trustees with the name Brekenridge. Marcus Brekenridge, if he remembered correctly. He'd been an elderly Wizard that had sat towards the end of the table with two other members of the Board. As he thought about the meeting, he remembered thinking at the time that it was odd how Professor Brekenridge kept her eyes fixed on the wall; she never once acknowledge the other Brekenridge's presence at the meeting.

"My father was a cold and distant man all through my childhood. He was rarely home. And, when he was, he would only ever speak to me about my duty to the Brekenridge family. As I was an only child, it was important to him that I carry on the family legacy.

"After I graduated from school, I traveled. I used up most of my trust fund crisscrossing the globe in order to study rare and wondrous charms. By the time I returned home, I'd learned enough and distinguished myself as a Witch enough that I was offered the position of Charms professor here. My father has never forgiven me for that."

"Why?" Alexander heard himself asking.

"Because being a 'schoolmarm,' as my father had put it, was beneath a Brekenridge. Being on the Board of Trustees was perfectly respectable, but actually teaching was the work of Wizards and Witches of poorer lineages, in his opinion. And, growing up in my house, my father's opinion was the only opinion that mattered. It was the only opinion uttered.

"But I loved to teach. I had led study groups and tutored students in Charms for years before I graduated. It was when I was about the same age that you were elected president for the first time that I decided I wanted to work at this school, in fact. I loved everything about teaching. Especially the way a student would get this little smile when he or she mastered a particularly difficult spell. My father never understood that. Which isn't surprising in the least; my father and I didn't and don't know anything about one another."

"Why are you telling me this?" the boy asked.

"Because I don't want you to make the same mistakes that I have. My father and I never got to know one another. Neither of us tried and both of us missed out. Which is, I believe, a large part of why we haven't spoken for ten years, despite attending a number of the same functions and living less than two miles away from one another. Don't miss the opportunity to get to know your birth family and don't deny them the opportunity to get to know you. Otherwise, you'll be just like me. You'll live your life with a million different 'what if' questions rattling around your head. And more regrets than you can count."

Alexander took a moment to process the story and the lesson his teacher was trying to impart. "And if I don't like them?"

"Then you don't like them. At least you'll have a reason to not like them beyond a bit or rudeness and you won't have to wonder what could have been for the rest of your life. Which, I'm guessing, may be a very, very long life from the looks you and Edward were shooting one another before the meeting."

The Wizard smiled. "Thank you."

"Any time," the woman said before turning to leave.

"One more thing," Alexander called after his teacher.

"Yes?"

"What happened with that animagus? Who was it?"

Professor Brekenridge smiled deviously. "Trust me when I tell you that you don't want the answer to that question just yet. Eventually, maybe. But not right now. It is always better save good blackmail information for when you really need it."

Before Alexander could ask for a clarification, the woman left the room, still smiling in a near-maniacal manner.

After another hour and a half of killing time in his office, Alex decided to head home for the evening. As he made his way across campus and towards the portkey site, he was approached by a student he had yet to have any meaningful contact with.

"Alexander Cullen!" a male voice called out. The voice had a very light French accent to it.

The New England student turned to find Matthieu Moreau approaching him. The Beauxbatons student had medium-length hair the color of milk chocolate and lavender eyes. He was far tanner than most of his classmates from the French school. And he had a somewhat athletic build, though he was nowhere near as fit as Eric Weathercrest.

Alexander stopped and allowed the French boy to catch up with him. When Matthieu arrived, the New Englander greeted him with a simple, "Hello."

Matthieu smiled softly at Alex. "I apologize for yelling your name out like that, but I saw you heading towards the portkey site and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to catch you before you left for the evening."

"It's not a problem," Alexander answered evenly. He was slightly unnerved by the Beauxbatons student, in part because of the tales of his temper at the Second Task and in part because of the unusual looks Matthieu had been sending his way during the Yule Ball.

"I have heard many wonderful things about you from the other students," the French boy said, moving to stand closer to Alexander. "I was wondering if you would have lunch with me tomorrow. So that we can get to know one another better."

Had the request for a lunch date been purely platonic, Alexander would have agreed. He was a Student Ambassador and a generally nice guy, after all. But it wasn't purely platonic. Alexander knew that Matthieu Moreau had wanted to ask him to be his date for the Yule Ball and that this lunch date was meant to be a springboard for something more.

"I'm sorry, Matthieu, but I have plans for lunch tomorrow," Alex deflected. "I wish I could talk longer, but my boyfriend and I have plans for the evening and I really don't want to be late."

The French student's smile became strained when he heard the words 'my boyfriend,' but he managed to keep his composure. "I see. Well, another time, perhaps."

"Perhaps," the green-eyed boy replied before heading off to portkey home. He really wanted to spend some quality time with his family before the weekend.


	21. Chapter 21

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 21: Twenty: Dinner with the Potters**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Twenty – Dinner with the Potters **

Alexander took several deep breaths to calm his nerves as he stood outside of the door that led to the Potters' rooms. As he had suggested, Headmaster Dumbledore had removed his staff to the Hogwarts Express; he claimed that the rooms were needed for VIPs from the various magical governments who would, from time to time, be observing the remainder of the Tournament. Once the rooms were vacated, Headmaster Justinius had remodeled them to accommodate the Potter family and Alexander—who was most vehement about not being included in the "Potter family" category—on weekends.

Officially, Alexander was staying at the New England Academy on weekends for the remainder of the school year so that he could work on various projects he'd been assigned as Student Body President. That was the cover story he was giving everyone who asked. The fact that he was staying in the same room as the Potters was not to become public knowledge under any circumstances. It was, simply put, too dangerous for anyone to know that bit of information.

The New Englander glared at the door for several long minutes, willing the entire situation to go away. Realizing that it wasn't working—and after questioning what good having magic was if it couldn't make all of his problems disappear—he reached up and knocked softly on the door.

The door opened so suddenly that Alexander assumed Lily Potter had been standing on the other side waiting for him. She was beaming at the sight of Alexander and his suitcase.

"Hello," the boy greeted his biological mother awkwardly.

Lily continued to smile ridiculously as she stared at the sixteen-year-old.

"Ummm . . ." Alexander began after a few seconds elapsed. "Am I going to have to spend the entire weekend out in the hallway?"

"Oh!" Lily Potter exclaimed. Clearly, she had failed to realize just how long she'd spent staring at the boy. "Come in, come in. Please."

The Wizard allowed himself to be ushered inside. Lily put her hand on his back to steer him inside. The touch felt . . . wrong somehow. It wasn't fair, but Alexander couldn't help but compare it to the way his _real_ mother touched him.

At least she hadn't moved to hug him as she had during his first meeting with her.

Behind the door was a large round room that was effectively divided into two halves. One half had a large dining area with a table set with six place settings. The other half of the room had a large couch and four matching armchairs set up around a fireplace. Opposite of the entrance, there were three doors lining the far wall. From his conversations with Professor Justinius about the weekend visitations, Alexander knew that each door led to a bedroom: one for the boys, one for Cara, and one for Lily and James. Each bedroom had its own bathroom, which meant that Alexander would be sharing with Charles and Jonathan.

Charles Potter was resting on the couch; his head was visible as the boy used the armrest for a pillow. There were terrible purple splotches on his face that would have made him unrecognizable to someone who hadn't encountered him as many times as Alexander had. Jonathan Potter was sitting with him on the couch by the younger Wizard's feet. Cara and James Potter were sitting in the armchairs off to the right of the sofa by Jonathan.

"Alex!" Charles shouted when he heard the older teen enter. He did his best to sit up and look over the back of the sofa for a better view, but wasn't quite able to muster it.

The Cullen Wizard sat his suitcase down and shrugged off his backpack before rushing over to the redheaded boy. As he moved, he didn't miss the scowl on Cara and James's faces when Charles used the name 'Alex.'

"How are you feeling?" Alexander asked.

"I'm better. Everyone's treating me like I'm a baby, though," Charles sulked.

"I know how you feel. When I was sick last week, Edward physically restrained me to keep me from going to school."

Charles laughed, but no one else did.

Alexander looked up at the rest of the people in the room. "Hi."

"Good to have you here, son," James said as he got out of his chair.

There was another awkward moment as James didn't know whether to hug the newcomer or not. He went back and forth between the two motions for a second before Alexander settled the matter by extending his hand. The Potter patriarch accepted the offered hand and shook it firmly.

Lily had, at some point, shut the door and moved to join the rest of her family. She smiled broadly, looking back and forth between Alexander and the other Potters.

Alexander could read her expression perfectly: 'My family is back together.'

"Why don't we sit and chat a bit before dinner," the Muggleborn Witch suggested.

Wordlessly, Alexander and James sat down, the New Englander taking the free seat closest to Charles.

"So, how was your day?" Lily asked her long lost son.

"Good," he answered. Seeing that everyone was expecting something more substantial, he continued after a momentary pause. "Busy, but good. I have a bunch of work to do for the Tournament."

"Really?" Charles asked in excitement. "Do you get to plan the Third Task?"

"No," the Cullen boy answered. "I do get to plan a few other things, though. Like the awards ceremony and the Valentine's Day Dance. Also, the headmaster has finally given his okay for me to plan a few excursions so that the Hogwarts and Beauxbatons students can get off this blasted island for a bit."

"Good," Jonathan said in relief. "It's so crowded here. The first few weeks weren't so bad, but now it seems like I can't take two steps without running into someone."

"I'm more interested in this Valentine's Day Dance," Lily stated. "I know that Cara will go with that McLaggen boy and Jonathan will take Katie, but what about you? Is there someone special in your life?"

Alexander knew that this question would come sooner or later. Who wouldn't ask about his dating life? Fortunately, he had an answer all prepared. One that he'd rehearsed in front of the mirror just in case he had the kind of difficulty lying to the Potters that he did to other authority figures. "I do, actually. His name is Anthony. Anthony Masen."

What he didn't tell them was that Anthony was Edward's middle name and Masen was his mortal family name.

"I don't know that bloke," Jonathan said aloud.

"He's not a Wizard," Alexander explained.

Eyebrows shot up all around the room. They seemed far more surprised at the idea of him dating a Muggle than dating a boy. Then again, they'd likely already heard about his dance with Cedric Diggory at the Yule Ball, so his sexuality had probably already been deduced.

"That's why I go to all of the school functions with Eric and Marcia."

"Oh, well, uh, that's great," his biological mother stammered out in relief.

Alexander pondered her obvious relief for a moment. He quickly realized that she must assume that, because he was supposedly involved with a mortal Muggle, he had no interest in becoming a vampire.

The green-eyed sixteen-year-old tried to steer the conversation away from his love life. "What about you, Charles? Anyone you're interested in taking to the dance?"

The boy blushed at the question; even his ears turned bright red. "There is this girl, Laura Madley. We might go as friends."

"That's great. Anthony and I were best friends before we became involved with one another." The words left his mouth before he realized that he was moving the conversation back towards dangerous territory.

Alex's statement caused Charles to brush even brighter red.

"So, I've told everyone that I'm staying here because of my work with the Tournament. What have ya'll told people about why you're staying in this room rather than your usual dorms?" the Cullen boy asked Charles, Jonathan, and Cara.

Alexander realized, after he asked the question, that he'd begun to speak a bit like Jasper, using the word 'ya'll.' Clearly, spending so much more time together had started to have an effect on him. He wondered if he would start calling Edward 'darlin'' anytime soon.

"We're staying with Charlie," Jonathan answered. "Everyone thinks that Cara and I are staying in rooms with Charlie to help take care of him on weekends. But Dumbledore asked us to keep a low profile; he doesn't really want anyone to know that our parents are here."

"Makes sense," Alex commented. "So you're all pretty well confined to the room then. Welcome to the life of a commuter."

"Huh?" Charles questioned.

"Most of the commuter students live in Muggle areas. So that no one asks questions about why they don't go to the local schools, the parents always say that they go to boarding school. As a result, they can only be seen by the locals on rare occasions. Otherwise people would start asking questions."

Before the conversation could continue any further, a trio of House Elves 'popped' into the room and began to place food on the table.

"I guess dinner is served, then," Jonathan said as he watched the House Elves do their work.

"I'm just going to go put my suitcase away first," Alex explained before getting up and collecting his things. Jonathan absently directed him to the door on the far left as he made his way towards the dinner table.

The boys' room was a comfortable size for three boys to share. It was a circular room with three canopy beds, three wardrobes, and three writing desks with matching chairs. Alexander was quickly able to figure out that the center bed was his because it was the only one without a trunk with the Hogwarts insignia on it sitting at the foot of the bed.

The Wizard sat his suitcase by his wardrobe and slung his bag over the back of the chair of his writing desk before going out to dinner.

Alexander frowned when he reentered the main room. He had hoped that everyone would have had the good sense to eat in the sitting area so that Charles wouldn't have to get up. Instead, the redheaded fourteen-year-old was sitting at the dinner table, barely able to sit up properly.

Alexander took the only open seat: next to Charles and by the foot of the table. James was sitting at the head of the table, Lily was at the foot, Cara was directly opposite of Charles, and Jonathan was opposite of Alexander.

Once Alex rejoined the group, they wasted no time in beginning to eat.

"How come you didn't come to Hogwarts?" Charles asked after a bit of silent eating.

The question caught everyone off guard, but no one was taken by surprise quite like James Potter, who began to choke on his pumpkin juice.

"Ah, well, I didn't get a Hogwarts acceptance letter," Alex explained slowly, ignoring James's coughing.

"Why not? Don't they have a book of names or something?"

Alex was officially out of his territory. He had no idea how Hogwarts selected its students.

"Well, Charlie," Lily began to explain. "Hogwarts does have a magic book that records the names of every magical child in Britain, but it self-updates as people move in and out of the country. When Ha-Alex," she caught herself midway through the name. After stopping for a moment to recover, she continued. "When Alex moved out of Britain, his name disappeared from the book. Not even the Ministry would have been able to find him at that point."

"But, Dumbledore knew _about_ him," the fourteen-year-old pointed out. "Why didn't he just write his name on an acceptance letter and send it with an owl. It would have found him, right?"

That was a question that Alex could answer. "It's not that easy, Charles. Think about how many people there are in the world with the same name. If I wanted to send you a letter, I would need more than just 'Charles Potter' because there are lots of people out there with that name. I would need something more specific. A general location, for instance. Or the owl needs to be familiar with the person already. That's why, for the majority of correspondence, we just send replies with the same owl that brought the first message.

"I could probably tell a New England owl to find any student from this school because they are all familiar with the students, but they would be hard-pressed to find you unless you've used the owl before. If I don't know where you live, I'd have to send the letter care of Hogwarts. Otherwise, the letter probably wouldn't get to you."

"But couldn't Dumbledore have sent the letter to every 'Harry Potter' in the world?" the redheaded boy pushed further.

Alexander felt a great swell of pity for the boy. He was clearly trying to find someone to blame for him not having had Alexander in his life before now.

"It's illegal," James muttered. "Too many Muggles would have gotten the letter. It would violate the Statute of Secrecy."

Charles looked down at his plate and began to pick at his food once again. "Oh, I guess that makes sense," was all he said in response to the explanation.

There was another long period in which the only sound in the room was that of six individuals eating.

"So, what subjects do you like?" James attempted to start a new conversation.

"Charms is my favorite. I like the subject matter. And Professor Brekenridge is the best," Alex answered the man. "But I pretty well like everything but History of Magic."

"Isn't that what Professor Reynolds teaches?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes. He loves to talk about the great history of Wizardkind and how important it is for us to shun everything Muggle and return to the oldest of traditions," the vampire-raised Wizards said with an overly-dramatic and superior tone.

"You don't like him much?" James questioned with a laugh.

"More like he doesn't like me much. All of my big accomplishments at this school have been things he hates. The first thing I did here that really got me noticed was to hold a protest over the school uniform policy."

"A protest?" Jonathan asked, clearly delighted at the idea of Alexander being a bit of a troublemaker.

"Edward was a little bit of a hippie in the sixties. I'd heard stories about sit-ins and protests, and I wanted to be just like him. So, I staged a big demonstration in the courtyard protesting the uniforms."

"Why?" Lily asked in bewilderment.

"They're expensive," Alexander said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "The only tailor who was authorized to sell the uniform was from an old, Pureblood family. She kept the prices high so that only students from rich families could buy tailored uniforms every year and the students from families with fewer means had to go longer without new robes or, if they had older siblings at the school, they had to use hand-me-downs. When people complained, she'd agree to do special sales during the summer, but then she'd time them so that they happened before the school supply lists went out. Because most Muggleborn students didn't do magical shopping during the summer except to buy school supplies, they still missed out."

"And this Professor Reynolds doesn't like that you protested against the uniforms?" James pressed.

"I protested and got enough support that I was elected Student Body President. After that, I became more vocal about it and managed to convince the Board of Trustees to abandon the policy."

"How did everyone else take it?" the man questioned further.

"The vast majority of students were thrilled; only a handful of students wanted to keep the uniforms. But there were some problems. We had students showing up in Halloween costumes for weeks after the policy was removed. It was pretty funny, but we had to put a stop to it. So we wrote a dress code policy to cover things like skirt length and costumes."

"What else did you do?" Charles asked in excitement, his mouth half-full of bread.

Alex shrugged. "Mostly party planning. The only other major things I did was get some of the professors to let us use Muggle writing instruments instead of parchment and quills. Not all of them agreed, but most of them did."

"And you almost derailed the Triwizard Tournament," his older biological brother pointed out.

Jonathan's statement led to Alexander having to recount the entirety of the debacle from the start of the school year. By the time he was finished, most of the diners had finished eating. Alex, however, had barely started; he'd spent so much of the meal talking, that he had hardly touched his plate.

"So, what about you, Cara? What is your favorite subject?" he tried to draw his silent twin into the conversation.

The redheaded Witch looked at her twin for a moment. "History of Magic," she replied simply.

When Cara refused to elaborate further, Alexander looked to Jonathan.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," the eldest of the Potter children replied with a confident smile. "The professors have been pretty bad, though. Most of them, anyway. And we've had a different professor each year."

"Seven professors?" Alex asked in amusement.

"Yes. During my first year, DADA was taught by Professor Vance. After she retired, we had Professor Quirrell in my second year. He was possessed by Voldemort and got killed in a duel with Dumbledore."

Both Lily and James were sending Jonathan stern looks from the moment he mentioned the name 'Voldemort.'

"Then there was Gilderoy Lockhart, but he turned out to be a fraud and got himself sacked." Jonathan hesitated for a moment before continuing. "After that it was a Death Eater disguised as a retired Auror named Mad-Eye Moody. He was involved in the last Tournament." The boy got a faraway look as he spoke. "Then the Ministry decided to get involved and assigned Delores Umbridge to the post. Fortunately, _someone_ threw her into a damaged Vanishing Cabinet and it addled her brains for a few weeks, so she either couldn't or wouldn't return. Last year it was a bloke from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement named Thicknesse, but someone tried to curse him and addled his brains permanently. And this year it's an Auror named Dawlish; also assigned by the Ministry."

Alexander chewed on a carrot. He wondered if the 'someone' who had thrown Umbridge into the Vanishing Cabinet was the same 'someone' that had tried to curse Thicknesse. "Any idea why no one can hold the position for more than a year?"

"Voldemort cursed it," Jonathan said with a careless shrug.

"That's enough," Lily snapped in a harsh whisper.

Alex watched as Jonathan, Lily, and James exchanged looks, as though they were having some kind of silent debate.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing," Lily said with a tight smile. She wouldn't meet Alex's eyes and began to fiddle with her napkin nervously.

"That sure was convincing," the Cullen boy said in sarcasm.

"Harry," James admonished the sarcasm with a tired smile.

"_Alex_," the boy corrected.

"Here we go again," Cara said in irritation, shoving her plate away in disgust.

"Cara, please," Lily begged.

The girl frowned deeply and glared at her mother. "We're talking about nonsense instead of what's really important here. He," the Witch jabbed her finger towards Alexander, "thinks he someone he's not."

"Cara, just stow it!" Jonathan snapped at his sister.

"No," Alex said. "Let her say what she has to say to me. As Emmett always says: be direct."

Cara visibly clenched her jaw and shifted her glare from her mother to her twin. "You're our brother. _Our_ brother. And your name is Harry. You know that, but you don't seem to care. You don't seem to care that you're part of this family. You keep calling yourself 'Alexander Cullen,' but that's not who you are!"

Alex impassively watched as Cara vented at him. Her face went bright red. And, if he wasn't mistaken, he saw her eyes well up a bit.

"If you woke up tomorrow and found out that you were Ron Weasley's sister, how would you react?" Alex asked evenly after his twin was finished.

"What?" she demanded in frustration.

"How would you react if you found out that Ron Weasley was your biological brother? Or better yet, how would you react if you found out that Eric Weathercrest was your brother? If you found out tomorrow that you had these other people out there who lived on the opposite side of an ocean that were your family by blood, what would you do? Would you cut all ties to the Potters? Change your name to whatever it was that they wanted to call you when you were born? Move across the ocean?"

"I-I," Cara tried, but couldn't make anything sensible come out.

"I'm trying here. I honestly am. But whether you like it or not, family is more than blood. Esme Cullen, the woman I call 'Mom,' made me peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to make me feel better when I had trouble learning to read. And Rosalie taught me to tie my shoes. Emmett told me bedtime stories and Edward checked under my bed for monsters. And they did the hundred million other things that a family does.

"I'm trying to get to know you because you're the family I was born into. I want to know you. But _there is no way in Hell_ that I'm giving up the family that raised me. I love them and they love me. And if you want anything to do with me, you have to accept that. I am who I am and I'm not going to apologize or change for anyone."

Silence reigned over the dinner table for several long minutes. No one said anything. No one moved. For one moment, Alexander even forgot to breath.

Then, Cara jumped up from her seat, rushed to her room, and slammed the door shut behind her.

Alexander looked up at the rest of the people in the room. Everyone was very uncomfortable and looking down at their mostly-empty plates.

The Cullen boy had had enough of the Potter family for one night, and so softly excused himself to go do paperwork in the boys' room. He was very grateful to Professor Brekenridge for assigning him so much extra work.


	22. Chapter 22

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 22: Twenty One: Treaty**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Twenty-One – Treaty **

Alexander all but sprinted to Ms. Lepon when classes were dismissed on Monday afternoon. He couldn't tolerate the thought of spending another moment at the Academy; he wanted to go home.f

The mortal boy landed in the tool shed at his family's property with a slight 'thud.' He kept his balance for once. To his surprise, Edward was waiting for him with a smile by the door to the shed.

"You must have the worst attendance record of any student at your school," Alex muttered and he hugged his boyfriend fiercely and rested his head in the crook of the vampire's neck.

"I don't, actually," the immortal responded gently.

The hug stretched on and on as Alexander refused to release his hold on Edward. The bronze-haired vampire quickly became concerned and began to rub small circles on his boyfriend's back.

"That bad?"

"It was awful. And ridiculous. It was awfriculous."

The vampire chuckled. "As far as made-up words go, 'awfriculous' doesn't have the same ring to it that 'frenemy' did."

The Wizard pulled his head back and looked into his amber eyes. "It was awkward. And then there was fighting. And then that Sirius guy showed up and insisting on making a pain of himself."

"How so?"

"He would ask questions about me. It didn't matter what I gave as an answer, he always had some story to tell me about James and Lily that was related to it. He was desperate to try and find some sort of comparison between them and me. Like, if I mentioned not liking peas, he would tell a long-winded story about a food fight at Hogwarts twenty years ago that involved peas. I had to start grunting in response to everything he said just to stop the incessant storytelling."

"What about the Potters themselves?"

"They all seem to be making an effort," Alexander conceded. "Except for Cara. She's convinced that I should just adopt the name 'Harry Potter,' transfer to Hogwarts, and pretend that I don't know anyone with the name 'Cullen' or 'Hale.'"

The vampire frowned. "I presume you didn't take that well."

"I was pretty calm the first time she tried to bite my head off for insisting that they call me 'Alex,' but I became less civil as the weekend wore on." The boy let out a frustrated puff of air from his mouth. "Charles was pretty excited about the whole thing. Jonathan was nice, but there's something going on between him and his parents that I haven't figured out just yet. Lily was . . . enthusiastic to have me there. And James tried to get to know me a little, though he does insist on calling me 'Harry' all the time.

"But things were just so awkward that it was like we were only able to make semi-polite small talk for the whole weekend; I never got comfortable enough to start asking the questions I really want answers to. And all they could do was ask mundane questions like what food I like." He rested his forehead on Edward's shoulder. "How about I just quit school and we run away together?"

The vampire nuzzled the side of his mortal's face. "I could live with that. Could you?"

Alexander only grunted.

After a few more minutes of standing together enjoying one another's presence, the pair began to make their way towards the house. As they walked, Alexander couldn't help but stare at his boyfriend. Although only a couple of days had passed since they'd last seen one another, it had felt like an eternity. The Wizard took in every little detail of the vampire's face, from the beginnings of dark bruises beneath his eyes that signified that he needed to hunt within a few days to the crooked way he smiled after a few seconds of being stared at.

When they entered the house, Alexander cried at the top of his lungs, "I'm home!" It was more a cry of relief than an announcement.

The afternoon passed fairly quickly. The mortal disregarded his homework entirely and, instead, split his time between his mother and Edward. He played music with Edward—whose piano had finally been replaced—for several hours before joining his mother in the kitchen. He helped the female vampire make dinner and vented his frustrations about the first weekend with the Potter.

Esme tried not to show the satisfaction she felt at Alex's words, but she couldn't help but smile at the way he called her 'Mom' and his biological mother 'Lily.'

Finally, the time came for the meeting with the Quileute Elders. The entire meeting had escaped Alexander's mind up until Carlisle returned home from work.

"Is everyone going?" Alexander asked as he trailed his father up the stairs to his office.

Carlisle entered his office and shook his head. "No, they won't. Billy Black has said that there will only be four individuals from the Reservation attending, and that includes both himself and his son."

"Jacob's coming?" the mortal asked, his voice rising ever so slightly.

"Yes," the vampire answered with a frown. "They don't trust us. As Jacob is the only person from their tribe that has actually met you, he is to attend in order to verify that you are the person he met."

"Great," Alex muttered. "I'm sure the meeting will go ever so smoothly with the guy I've been lying to for months there."

"You'll survive," Emmett said as he passed behind Alexander on his way down the hall.

"Jasper, Edward, and I will be with you," Carlisle assured his mortal son. He crossed the room and placed his hands on the boy's shoulders. "You've shown an amazing amount of maturity lately. I have faith in you, Alexander. You'll make it through this meeting just fine."

"I guess after a weekend with the Potters, this should be a piece of cake," Alex responded miserably before leaving his father's office to look for Edward and Jasper.

He found Jasper first. The empath was standing on the south side of the house, staring out of the massive windows that made up that entire wall. The glass had been replaced since the vampire's fight with Edward.

Alex went to stand next to Jasper. "You're coming with us tonight." It was a statement, not a question.

"We thought it best," Jasper answered softly. He turned to look at his little brother. "You're nervous."

"Yes," the boy admitted. "If you're coming, then that means we're expecting trouble."

Jasper gave Alexander a soft, reassuring smile. "We're not expecting any problems. But we always prepare for the worst. We will not risk putting you in danger of any kind."

"It wouldn't be too dangerous for me to drive, would it?" the mortal asked with a hopeful and toothy smile. When Jasper didn't respond immediately, he added, "It would probably be less unsettling for Jacob if we showed up in a car rather than by leaping out of the trees."

Jasper gazed at Alexander critically for a moment. "I suppose I have yet to assist you in learning how to drive . . ."

"I'll take that as a 'yes,'" the black-haired boy called out over his shoulder as he raced to get his car keys.

The four Cullens arrived at the appointed place at seven o'clock on the dot. Billy Black and Carlisle had agreed to meet at the border of La Push. The border was the invisible line that separated the lands that the vampire coven was allowed to freely travel about from the lands that they were forbidden from setting foot on. To anyone who didn't know that, however, it was just a dusty road.

Alexander put his little car into park and looked out the window to see who it was that they were meeting with. Jacob was standing on one end of the group, his long hair obscuring his face as it blew in the wind. He was standing next to a man that Alex deduced to be his father, Billy Black. The man had the same russet skin that his son did and was confined to a wheelchair; it was the latter detail that Alex used to determine who he was.

The third individual was a heavyset man about Billy Black's age. He could have passed for Billy's brother with how much they looked like one another.

The fourth and final individual was a young man who appeared to be in his twenties. He was very tall and built much like Emmett. His hair was coal black like Alexander's. The man's skin was a shade darker than the other individuals present and he stood shirtless with his arms crossed over his chest; the cold wind evidently didn't bother him.

When Alex reached over to open his door, three hands shot out and took hold of him, keeping him from exiting the vehicle. Jasper, who was sitting in the passenger seat, latched onto his right arm. Carlisle's hand was on his right shoulder and Edward, who was sitting directly behind Alex, reached up between the driver's seat and the door and wrapped his arm around the mortal's midsection as best he could.

"What?" Alex asked in alarm.

"He's a wolf," Edward answered in anger. "The one on the end is a wolf."

Alexander looked out the window towards the younger man standing on the end opposite of Jacob.

"They seem to be quite happy to have caught us off guard," Jasper fumed. "Alex, you stay here with Edward. Carlisle and I will check things out."

Jasper and Carlisle left the car and walked over to the assembled Quileute men. Alexander watched in fascination as things quickly degenerated from a tense conversation into a shouting match between the shapeshifter and the normally quiet Jasper. After a few minutes, Edward got out of the car and opened Alex's door to escort the mortal to the meeting. The vampire had, it appeared, received Carlisle's silent instruction to bring Alexander.

The mortal had already been more than a bit nervous about the entire situation before he and his family arrived, but those feelings were now exacerbated by of the way Jasper positioned himself between Alex and the shapeshifter. He knew very little about the wolves of La Push beyond the specifics of the treaty, but one of the few details he had was that their transformations were tied to their emotions. This meant that Jasper, as an empath, would be best of the vampires at judging the likelihood of a wolf transforming.

"So you're Alexander Cullen," the man in the wheelchair said as he appraised the boy. "I'm Billy Black. You already know my son, Jacob."

Although Alex gave a nod and nervous smile to Jake, the other boy didn't acknowledge him in the least.

"This is Harry Clearwater, and the man on the end is Sam Uley."

"Nice to meet you," Alexander responded to the greeting.

"Now, Alex, we asked to meet with you tonight because of a treaty that exists between our people and the Cullens," Harry Clearwater informed the boy.

"I know all about the treaty, and we haven't broken it."

"_You_ can't break the treaty," Sam Uley pointed out. "It is between the Cullen vampires and our tribe."

"They're my family. I'm part of the coven," Alexander replied defiantly.

"Alexander," Billy said firmly, "We're just concerned about your wellbeing. Vampires are notorious for luring people in and then hurting them when they're most vulnerable."

"Maybe some vampires are, but my family isn't like most vampires. You should know that. They killed the only vampires that have ever tried to hurt me."

"What?" Jacob asked in concern. He looked very embarrassed at the exclamation as soon as it had left his mouth.

Edward answered for his love. "A trio of vampires was in the area last week. They attempted to hurt Alexander."

"And they paid the price for it," Jasper added with a note of finality, sending a dark glare to Sam.

"There were more vampires in the area last week?" Billy asked, his eyes darting over to Sam Uley.

The wolf looked ashamed for a moment. It took Alexander a few seconds to figure out why exactly. Sam Uley was a wolf of La Push and was, therefore, charged with the task of protecting the humans in the area from vampires. Not knowing that there was a trio of vampires in the region was something akin to dereliction of duty on his part.

Carlisle tried to take control of the meeting. "As my son said, they've been taken care of. If we could return to the topic at hand."

"As long as no harm comes to the boy, we have no objection to him living with you. But he can't become a vampire. Ever," Uley said firmly.

"Say what?" Alex asked in confusion.

"The treaty is very particular in its wording," Billy Black informed the boy. "The Cullens can't bite a human for any reason. If they do, the treaty is finished and we go to war."

And so the reason for the meeting finally became crystal clear to Alexander. It wasn't that the Quileute Tribe was upset by a human living with vampires per se. It was that they viewed it a clear sign of the Cullens' intent to break the treaty at some point in the future by turning Alexander into a vampire. Alexander was a Cullen, and that meant that he would probably want to become a vampire one day. And, because humans became vampires through exposure to the vampire venom that was typically injected through bites, Alexander's becoming a vampire would require him to be bitten in direct violation of the treaty.

"You'd pick a fight that you're destined to lose over me?" the New England student asked incredulously.

"It's the principle of the thing," Mr. Clearwater responded. He didn't sound very convinced of his argument.

"We will follow the treaty to the letter, Billy," Carlisle answered. "I promise you that no member of my family will bite Alexander."

"But-" the boy in question tried to protest. He shut up when his father sent him a stern look.

"There is another minor detail that we need to iron out, however," the doctor continued. "Specifically, we want to know whether you will hold Alexander to the same requirements as the rest of us."

"Meaning?" Harry Clearwater asked for clarification.

"They want to know if the boy can travel through our lands," Sam answered.

"That's right," Carlisle confirmed. "Alex and Jacob were friends. If they patch things up, I want to know if you would have any objection to their spending time with one another."

Alexander felt very mixed at that moment. Part of him was grateful to his father for being concerned about his friendship with Jacob, but a much larger part of him was upset at the vampire for making the promise he just had.

Jacob frowned deeply. "We weren't friends. He lied to me from the first time we met each other."

"Only about where I live and my last name. And I only did that because I knew it would cause this sort of problem," Alex quickly defended. Jacob's repudiation of their friendship made him feel terrible.

"You still lied."

Billy looked up at his son and then back over to Alexander. "He's human, so I don't have a problem with it. But, no one from your family can accompany him. He's allowed on our lands, but only him."

"What?" Sam demanded. His entire body began to tremble.

The sight of the wolf trembling upset the vampires. They all moved in close around Alexander to hide him from view. After only a few seconds, however, they all backed off. When they did, Alexander was able to see that Sam Uley had his temper back in check and was no longer shaking like a volcano about to explode.

"He's human and he's going to stay human," Billy pointed out gruffly. "If he and Jake want to be friends, then they get to be friends. We're not going to interfere."

"We're not friends," Jacob muttered again.

"Alright then," Carlisle said with a nod. "You've seen my son and I think we've covered everything. I believe it would be best if my family and I took our leave now."

"That probably would be for the best," Billy said as he cast another look at the Sam, who was still calming himself down.

Edward was quick in starting to lead Alexander away from the Quileute delegation. Or, more specifically, away from Sam Uley.

Once in the car, Alex stewed in silence until he saw the Quileute delegation leave. The second the other quartet left, he rounded on his father. "How could you? How could you promise them that I'd never become a vampire?"

"Alex," Carlisle tried, but the boy kept yelling at him.

"Mom is going to kill you! I mean, she's literally going to kill you!"

The doctor tried again. "Alex."

"I think even Emmett will take a swing at you over this!"

"Alex!"

"What?" the boy demanded.

"I didn't promise that you'd never become a vampire. I promised that no member of our family would bite you. There's a difference."

"Huh?" the boy said in confusion.

"Ever since you first started saying that you wanted to become a vampire, I've been devising ways for you to become one of us without all of the pain and torment that comes with being bitten. If and when the time comes, we'll inject you with the venom through a syringe," the vampire patriarch explained. "As they said, the treaty is very specific: we can't bite you. There is nothing in the treaty that forbids us from making you into a vampire through some other means."

"Oh," Alexander said softly before blushing bright red in embarrassment. "I'm, uh, sorry I yelled."

"It's alright," Carlisle said with a laugh. "And you are correct; your mother would have killed me if I promised that you wouldn't become a vampire. If that had been one of their demands, we would have moved."

"We'll break the spirit of the law without breaking the letter of it," Edward assured his boyfriend.

Their business with the Quileute Tribe having been completed, the Cullen boys returned home and informed the rest of the family about the events of the evening. It wasn't long after returning home that Alexander went downstairs for the night.

Edward came to visit Alex a short while after he finished changing his clothes for bed. The vampire silently moved about the bedroom, coming up behind Alex.

"Hello there," Edward whispered in the Wizard's ear.

Alex jumped in surprise before whirling around and smacking Edward on the shoulder. "Don't do that."

The vampire laughed lightly. "I couldn't resist."

Alex smiled at Edward for a moment before wrapping his arms around the immortal's neck. "Why don't you make it up to me?"

"Gladly," Edward answered before pressing his cold, hard lips against Alex's soft ones.

Like most of their kisses, this one started off gentle and innocent. After a few moments, however, it became heated and full of desire as the mortal parted his lips to invite Edward to explore his mouth. The vampire began to kiss his mortal with a desperate hunger. Soon, their tongues were dueling one another as each tried to taste more and more.

Alexander shifted his weight so that he was pulling Edward down onto the bed with him. Edward could, of course, have resisted the pull with his inhuman strength. But he didn't want to.

Soon, Alex was lying on his back on the bed, Edward's legs straddling his hips. In one quick motion, the immortal pulled the darker-haired boy's hands from around his neck and pinned them to the mattress.

Edward slowly moved his mouth down to plant kisses along Alexander's chin and throat. After placing a tender kiss against the mortal's Adam's apple, he roughly pushed the boy's head to the side so that he could more easily attack the juncture between his neck and shoulder.

Alexander clenched his jaws to keep from moaning out loud at the sensation of Edward's cool assault on the sensitive skin. He wiggled and writhed underneath the immortal's toned body as the vampire very carefully allowed his sharp teeth to graze the skin. It was incredible the amount of control Edward was able to maintain; even the slightest slip up would create a terrible cut on Alex that would most assuredly draw blood.

A devious thought entered the mortal's mind, but he was forced to wait until he was in a far less precarious situation to do what he wanted. He waited as patiently as he could until Edward returned to kissing him on the mouth. Then, with no outward warning, he bucked his hips upwards to grind against Edward.

Edward released a soft moan at the contact and, almost instinctively, brought one hand up under Alexander's shirt to caress the hidden flesh. That, in turn, elicited a moan from Alex.

Very abruptly, Edward broke the contact and backed away from his boyfriend.

"Edward?" Alex questioned, wondering if he'd done something wrong.

The vampire simply pointed up the stairs to the open door.

Alexander silently cursed at himself. Esme had a firm rule that forbade Alexander and Edward from being alone together in the soundproof room unless the door was open. It was so that any and all vampires in the house could chaperone their activities.

The mortal flushed in embarrassment when he realized that his brothers, sisters, and parents had all probably just heard him moan out in pleasure at what Edward was doing to him. He covered his face in horror as he imagined them all going about their business and then hearing that sound.

Edward sat down next to him on the bed and put an arm around his shoulders. After a few seconds, Alexander's mortification passed and he looked up at his boyfriend.

Without another word, Edward placed a soft kiss on Alexander's lips before heading upstairs.

Alexander waited until after the door to his basement bedroom was closed before letting loose with a frustrated growl. He lay perfectly still on the bed for several long minutes thereafter, replaying the scene over and over in his mind. The boy didn't move until his cell phone rang on the nightstand.

The green-eyed teen picked up the phone and smiled when he saw the name on the caller identification.

"Hello, Jacob."

"_Hi,_" the boy on the other end of the line said. "_It's not too late, is it?_"

"No, not at all. How are you?"

"_I'm still pretty pissed off at you. But mostly, I'm really freaked out._"

Alexander smiled. "You just found out that vampires and shapeshifters aren't just legends. I would be surprised if you weren't at least a little bit freaked out."

"_Why didn't you tell me?_" Jacob demanded. "_You knew that some of my tribe really did turn into wolves, and you didn't tell me. Why not?_"

"I didn't tell you about who I really am because it would have caused problems. As for the rest . . . I didn't know that any of your tribe had actually turned into a wolf. There was a really good chance that no one in your entire tribe would transform within your lifetime. If that was the case, if you didn't get firsthand knowledge of any of this, then telling you could have put you in danger."

"_What are you saying?_"

"There are things out there that kill humans for knowing the truth," Alexander answered. "Telling you about wolves and vampires would have been a bad thing; not that you would have believed me anyway."

"_It's still not fair._"

"I know," Alex admitted. "And for what it's worth, I am sorry."

"_Yeah,_" Jacob answered simply.

"Does this mean we're friends again?"

There was a long pause before the younger boy answered. "_Sure._"


	23. Chapter 23

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 23: Twenty Two: New York, New York**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Twenty-Two – New York, New York**

Alexander quickly learned to dread weekends. It wasn't that he disliked the Potters per se; it was just that things were so damned hard with them.

Cara still believed that he should be someone totally different from who he was. James clearly agreed with his daughter based on the way he still refused to call him 'Alex,' but he at least was making some small effort to learn about Alexander's interests and such. Lily was making a must more noticeable effort, but things were exceedingly awkward between Alexander and his biological mother because she clearly wanted take over the role of 'mother' in his life and, every time she tried, Alexander couldn't help but resent her for trying to steal what he considered to be Esme's rightful place.

Jonathan, while apparently pleased to have Alexander spending time with his family, frequently caused arguments between his parents and himself whenever he uttered the name 'Voldemort' in Alex's presence. The resulting fights with his parents abruptly ended his interactions with the younger boy.

Charles was, therefore, the only one whom Alexander could converse with without the need for stepping on eggshells.

On the first weekend in February, Alexander was given a short break from his weekend routine of being trapped in the set of rooms occupied by the Potters. Headmaster Justinius had finally approved the first of his ideas for a mass excursion from campus. The vast majority of the student population was, therefore, about to invade the magical shopping district of New York City.

Calling it a 'shopping district' is actually a bit misleading. There is a single structure in New York City just a bit off of the famed Fifth Avenue that houses the vast majority of the magical shopping for the entire city. It is a subterranean shopping center hidden beneath a Muggle parking structure.

Alexander smiled as he looked around the shopping center. Although it was officially named the Jeremiah Westings Memorial Shopping Center—named for the first Secretary of Magical Affairs and supposed ancestor of the head of the Salem Witches' Institute, Teresa Westings—almost everyone called it 'the Cauldron.' And with good reason. The shopping center was seven stories deep with various stores lining the exterior walls, leaving a large open space in the middle that made the entire thing resemble a large pot or cauldron.

There were several additional paths that extended of from the central area to small courtyards, private meeting rooms, and the like. The courtyards were frequently used by couples wanting a moment of privacy or by stressed-out parents in desperate need of a moment of quiet.

The Cauldron's ceiling was charmed much like the ceiling of the Great Hall of Hogwarts so that it looks like the outside sky. Additional charms had been cast in the space to create a gentle breeze of fresh air to make it feel more like an outside shopping mall rather than a big hole in the ground.

The green-eyed boy only had a few minutes to admire the magnificent structure before Charles and Eric pulled him towards the nearest candy store.

Although Alexander was free from Lily and James Potter for the weekend, he was still in the company of Charles, Cara, and Jonathan. And, because the three Potter children were there, Cormac McLaggen, Hermione Granger, a still-sulking Draco Malfoy, and Katie Bell were also in attendance. Alex was just relieved that Eric and Marcia had decided to tag along.

"It's funny that in a group that includes a third year student, Eric is still the most immature person here," Marcia whispered to Alexander as she trailed him into the candy store.

The group ended up spending the better part of half an hour in the magical candy store. Alexander, Marcia, Draco, Katie, and Jonathan were all finished pretty quickly, but everyone else insisted on staying. Charles and Eric had to examine everything in the store, Hermione Granger managed to corner a store clerk and interrogate him endlessly on the different types of candy dental floss, and Cormac McLaggen kept sneaking 'free samples' whenever the shopkeeper's back was turned.

Cara, who was still giving her twin the cold shoulder for his refusal to act as she had always imagined her twin should act, followed Cormac around as he pilfered the store. Eventually, though, the Witch came to a stop next to the Blood Pops. She stared at the things in disdain for several long minutes before storming out of the store.

Alexander knew that Cara still blamed the Cullens for his not being raised alongside her. Had Esme Cullen not accepted Alexander from Petunia and then disappeared with him in early October, he would have been left at the hospital with a mortal and the Potters would have almost definitely been able to track him down when they came looking just under a month later. The Blood Pops reminded her of the vampires that had, in her opinion, stolen the close bond with her twin that was rightfully hers.

The New Englander shook his head and thought of the irony in Cara associating the Blood Pops with the Cullen family. Alexander had tried to give some of the confections to Edward several years earlier, but the vampire had forcefully refused. Blood Pops are supposed to be a substitute for human blood and so taste exactly like it. The Cullens do their best to break human blood's temptation all together, so eating something that tasted exactly like it would be counterproductive. Going cold turkey was the only effective way.

Alexander pulled himself from his thoughts about Blood Pops when he saw that Charles was excitedly pointing out a large box of assorted candies. The fourteen-year-old, whose purple blotches had only recently faded away, proudly told Eric that Alexander had sent him an identical box through owl post as a belated birthday present a couple of weeks prior. The scene reminded Alex that he needed to pick up a birthday present for Jonathan sometime before the end of March.

After the candy shop, the group visited a number of bookstores and clothing boutiques before landing themselves in the large food court at the bottom center of the Cauldron for lunch. Alexander volunteered to save a table and wait with the group's various purchases while everyone else went through the lines to buy their lunches. He had no sooner sat down before a tray with a berry and custard desert and a cup of cocoa was placed in front of him.

"Would you care for some?" a thinly accented voice asked. Alexander knew that it was Matthieu Moreau, the Beauxbatons Champion, without even looking up.

"Oh, I couldn't possibly skip straight to dessert," the Cullen Wizard tried to politely refuse.

Matthieu took the seat next to Alexander. "Are you sure I can't tempt you?" he all but purred at the American.

"I don't think so."

"It will go to waste."

The custard dessert wasn't very appealing to Alexander at the moment; he craved something a tad more substantial. But the cocoa smelled delicious. He wasn't sure where Matthieu had purchased it, but it had the most amazing scent to it. Like warm honey and lilac.

"I guess a little cocoa wouldn't spoil my lunch," the boy acquiesced reluctantly.

The French boy's tan face split into a wide grin as Alexander picked up the cocoa.

Before Alexander could take his first sip of the drink, however, he was thrust forward as someone bumped into him. The cocoa spilled from the mug all over the tray and Alexander's shirt.

"Ah!" the green-eyed boy cried as the hot liquid scalded him.

"You clumsy oaf!" Matthieu snapped at whoever had slammed into Alexander.

The New Englander turned his head just in time to witness Matthieu stand up and draw his wand on a group of four boys. He quickly recognized one of those boys as Ronald Weasley. He was standing with three other students of about the same age. Two of them were the boys that had fought at his side during the riot back before Thanksgiving. Alexander had never learned their names, but he recognized the sandy-haired boy and his dark-skinned friend immediately.

The fourth boy, whom he didn't recognize, was the one who had slammed into him. A round-faced boy with blond hair, he was doing his best to stammer out an apology to Alexander, but was very nervous at having the Beauxbatons Champion's wand in his face and the three other students snickering at his back.

"Matthieu!" Alexander shouted.

The French student turned his attention to his would-be love interest. "Are you alright?" he asked in concern, never once lowering his wand.

"I'll be better when you put your damn wand down," Alex ground out between clenched teeth.

Matthieu looked back at the round-faced boy before slowly lowering his wand. He then began to speak to the other boy in a forceful tone. "I believe you owe Alexander an apology."

"I-I'm sorry. I was pushed, you see," the British Wizard started to explain before Ronald Weasley joined in.

"He's lying!"

"Shut up!" Alexander barked, losing his temper.

Ronald Weasley looked like he was going to yell something nasty right back at Alex, but didn't. Instead, he looked past Alexander with a heavy frown.

"What's going on here?" Jonathan Potter demanded as he returned. Eric was standing with him, looking about as mad as Alexander remembered ever seeing him. The duo both hand their hands on their wands and were looking at Ron Weasley and his cohorts with contempt, daring them to start something.

The friendship that had sprung up between the Weasley boy and Eric Weathercrest was, it appeared, over.

Alexander took a deep breath in through his nose to help him control his temper before returning his attention to the round-faced boy. "If you were pushed, you have nothing to apologize for," he said as kindly as he could.

The boy looked immensely relieved at Alex's words.

Seeing the way the other Hogwarts students seemed to be waiting for the opportunity to get the boy away from Alexander in order to start something, Alex decided to stop any further problems by removing the blond from their collective grasp. "Would like to join us for lunch?" he offered.

The Wizard's face brightened at the invitation. Alexander motioned for him to take the seat to his right, the one that had been previously occupied by Matthieu Moreau. The French boy scowled at the way Alexander gave his seat away, but held his tongue. Instead, he simply banished the cocoa from Alex's clothes and left to get a replacement mug of the beverage.

After Weasley and his friends left, Eric and Jonathan returned to their respective lunch lines, leaving Alexander alone with the boy he'd just invited to lunch.

"I'm Alex," the green-eyed boy introduced himself.

"Neville Longbottom," the blond introduced himself in return.

"It's nice to meet you, Neville. Mind telling me why I was just wearing a load of really hot cocoa?"

Neville looked sheepish at the request. "Sorry about that. Ron, he, uh, doesn't really like me anymore."

"Why not? You seem like a nice enough guy."

Longbottom blushed in embarrassment at the compliment. "He doesn't like anyone that believes in Dumbledore."

"Because of his sister," Alexander concluded rather quickly.

"You know about that?"

"I do. Weasley hates Dumbledore because the headmaster wouldn't give the dark artifact that bewitched his sister over to the Healers. And he just tried to take his aggression out on you because you support Dumbledore, it seems."

Neville only nodded his head in response.

Lunch ended up being a very tiring affair. Alexander spent much of it talking to Neville and pointedly ignoring Matthieu and the new cup of cocoa that he brought with him. The way the French student had immediately drawn his wand and become almost vicious to Neville after the latter had bumped into Alex was most unsettling to the New Englander.

By the end of lunch, Matthieu finally got the hint and left Alexander and his friends alone. He stalked off after a clipped goodbye to the Student Body President.

A short while after the group resumed its shopping excursion, Alexander managed to slip into one of the small courtyards off of the main shopping area for a moment to himself. He was surprised to find the courtyard already occupied by Jonathan; he hadn't even noticed the older boy leave the main group.

"Mind if I join you?" Alexander asked when he entered the little square courtyard.

Jonathan whirled around, surprised at Alex's arrival. "No, not all," he said after a moment's hesitation.

"Thanks."

Alexander walked around the courtyard for several moments. The little space was a square, each side of which was no more than dozen yards in length. It was only fair to call the little space a courtyard because that was what it was meant to look like; most of the ground was grassy with a cobblestone path circling a small fountain in the center of the room. Where the main shopping area had been ridiculously loud and quite congested, the courtyard was very tranquil and calming.

"Do you mind if I ask a question?" Alexander asked after a minute or so passed.

"You just did," Jonathan pointed out with a grin as he began to pace the room.

"Ha, ha," Alexander didn't even try to fake a real laugh. "That was the oldest joke ever."

"I know," the older boy replied with a shrug. "Go ahead and ask your question."

"Have Lily and James ordered you to not tell me about Voldemort?"

Jonathan Potter abruptly stopped walking about the little courtyard. He frowned deeply and looked away from the other boy. "They _asked_ me not to tell you about anything to do with that."

"Great," Alex muttered. "I'm having a hard time understanding them."

"They're afraid, is all. They think that, if you know about everything, you'll get scared and won't want anything to do with us."

"You've mentioned him several times, so I'm guessing that means that you don't agree with them?"

The Gryffindor hesitated for a very long time at that question.

"Jonathan?"

"I want to tell you because I hope you'll get scared," he confessed.

"What?" Alexander exclaimed. "Y-You want me to have nothing to do with you all?"

Jonathan looked his younger biological brother dead in the eye. "Do you have any idea how much danger I've put Cara and Charles and my parents in just by being related to them? Do you? Charles was poisoned. He would have died if you hadn't come along. I want you to be scared because I want you to be safe. I want to tell you everything about Voldemort because if it scares you enough, you'll want nothing to do with me. No one knows that we're related; you still have a chance to avoid all of this. To get out and live your life, instead of being trapped by it all."

"But what about what I want?"

"Huh?"

Alex licked his lips. "I don't know what I want from you and your family in the long run. All I know for sure is that, right now, I want to get to know you all. I wouldn't have suggested that I spend weekends with you all if I didn't. And I can't really do that if I'm only getting half the story. I want to know about what's going on with Voldemort because it's a big part of your life. If it scares me, then you get your way. If it doesn't, then at least I know what I'm getting myself into."

The older teen stood still, mulling things over for a bit. Then, he squared his shoulders in resolve. "There are a few things I can't tell you. But its' not just you; Cara and Charles aren't allowed to know certain things either. Dumbledore doesn't want anyone underage to know certain things about what he's up to. It's the sort of information that could make you a target, so no one who can't at least Apparate away from danger should know it."

"Alright," Alex conceded. His mind wandered momentarily to his disastrous experience with Apparition.

Jonathan looked towards the little hall that led back to the main shopping area. "The first thing you need to know is something you've probably already figured out: Voldemort didn't die back when I was little."

"I did, in fact, figure that much out," Alexander answered as the two began to walk once more. "No spell can awaken the dead; everyone knows that. But I take it from the way you're talking that you know what did happen to him?"

"Mostly," the Boy-Who-Lived answered. "He got ripped from his body and his power was broken. He spent years floating around as a wraith-like creature, trying to find a way to get his body back. His first major opportunity came during my second year at Hogwarts."

"That's when he possessed one of your professors, right? The name began with a 'Q.'"

Jonathan scowled at the ground as he walked. "Professor Quirrell. He was the Muggle Studies professor and went on a sabbatical the year before and found Voldemort by accident. In Albania, I think. Quirrell signed up to be a good little Death Eater and agreed to share his body with Voldemort's essence. It was all part of a plot to steal the Philosopher's Stone."

"I've heard about that," Alexander mused aloud. "It's has something to do with alchemy, right? It turns metal into gold."

"And can be used to create the Elixir of Life, which is why Voldemort wanted it. He wanted to use it regain his body."

"But Dumbledore stopped him," the younger boy concluded. He remembered Jonathan telling him that Quirrell had been killed in a duel with Dumbledore.

"It was mostly Dumbledore," Jonathan said a bit sheepishly. "I was there when it happened. The Stone was hidden inside an enchanted mirror and Voldemort couldn't get at it, so he tried to steal the whole damn mirror from the castle. I was out of bounds, messing around the school in Dad's old invisibility cloak after curfew. Dumbledore had been called away, but arrived back at the castle just as Quirrell tried to leave and they ended up dueling. The headmaster won, but I almost ruined things."

"How so?"

"I got too close. I thought that there was no risk involved in me taking a closer look at the duel because I was hidden, but some flying debris hit me and exposed me. Quirrell noticed and made to go after me. I don't know if he wanted me as a hostage to force Dumbledore to give up the secret of how to get the Stone out of the mirro or if he wanted to finish what he'd started when I was little, but he tried to grab hold of me. When he touched me . . . it was like I was made of acid. It burned Quirrell. He was so weakened by it that he had to back off. Quirrell then made to cast the _Avada Kedavra_ at me, but Dumbledore cursed him first. He was so weak from touching me, though, that Dumbledore's curse broke him into little pieces like he was a brittle piece of slate. There was nothing left but ash. Voldemort, though, managed to escape in his wraith-like form."

"What was it that made it so that he couldn't touch you?" the Cullen Wizard asked in awe. He was very interested in what sort of magic could have defeated Voldemort.

"Grandpa Charlus died to save me on the night that Voldemort fell. Dumbledore said that that kind of sacrifice is a very powerful type of magic. The person who was protected by the sacrifice receives a sort of protection. That's why Voldemort's curse rebounded on the night I got my scar."

"And it's why he couldn't stand to touch you."

Jonathan Potter nodded his head. "So Voldemort went back into hiding until my fourth year at Hogwarts."

"The Tournament."

"Precisely. He was behind the whole thing. A Death Eater that served him years before, Barty Crouch, Jr., had escaped Azkaban not long after being put there. His father, who worked for the Ministry of Magic, helped him. He stayed in his father's home under the Imperius Curse for years. But there were all these stories when I was growing up. The papers kept tabs on me and it was big news whenever I did anything normal, like have a birthday or go to a Quidditch match. They were also writing about how important I was and, later on, how Voldemort couldn't have been so bad if I was able to beat him as a child. It made Crouch angry to read about that sort of thing and, eventually, he broke free from the curse and went back to his master.

"He cursed his father so that he'd go about his ordinary business. When the chance came, he pushed really hard for the Triwizard Tournament to be held at Hogwarts. They were in the really early stages of negotiating it for my fifth year, but Voldemort was impatient and so Crouch managed to get it pushed up a year by cursing more and more Ministry employees and making them work on it. Voldemort thought it was his big chance to return, but things didn't end up going as planned. During the Third Task, he used an old ritual to make himself a new body. One made from my blood so that he could get past the protection Grandpa Charlus gave me.

"I barely made it out alive, but by doing so, I messed up Voldemort's plans. He wanted me dead so that he could send my body back to school. It would be his triumphant return; everything would have been thrown into chaos as soon as my body hit the ground. But I lived. Only the real Hogwarts Champion, Oliver Wood, died and the Ministry claimed that that was an accident. But I told my story to anyone that would listen anyway. If Voldemort suddenly reappeared after I told everyone what happened, he would basically have been admitting that he'd lost a duel to a kid. He would have been humiliated. So he's been lying low, building his forces up slowly."

"And Dumbledore's been doing the same," Alexander finished.

"Yeah."

"What sort of things have Dumbledore and Voldemort been doing?"

Jonathan became really apprehensive. "I told you that there are some things I can't tell you. What I can say is that they're both recruiting heavily. It's a bit like chess, really. They each keep trying to get the better of the other by getting new allies and knocking each other's allies out of the game. Both sides are trying to position themselves for the kill."

"Why not just expose Voldemort?"

"We've tried. But Voldemort is careful and Minister Fudge is way too afraid of losing power to listen to anyone. He keeps the Ministry and the _Daily_ _Prophet_ spouting off how nothing is wrong and how any talk of Voldemort is just me and Dumbledore trying to stir up trouble. He's afraid that Voldemort returning on his watch will be the end of his career."

Alexander processed the information for several seconds.

After a bit, Jonathan asked, "Anything else you'd like to know?"

"Actually, there is one thing. In that first meeting, the one where we made arrangements for me to spend weekends with you all, Lily and James mentioned that Voldemort had marked _you_ for death in the beginning. I thought that he'd targeted the whole family; that's even what Rita Skeeter wrote in her book."

Jonathan looked very stuck. "I forgot they said that; they shouldn't have."

"Why not?"

"Everyone thinks that he just came to murder our whole family; not many people know that he came for me specifically."

The younger boy frowned. "Does that mean you're not going to tell me?"

"I will only tell you what Cara and Charles know: there was a prophecy about Voldemort and me. He found out about part of it and decided to try and kill me when I was a baby."

"That's stupid," Alexander declared, much to Jonathan's surprise. "Prophecies are very subjective. The future isn't stagnant, it's fluid. Visions and prophecies only reveal what is most likely to happen based on the way things are now. When things change, when people make different decisions, the future changes. If the prophecy was about you, the best thing he could have done was to avoid you entirely."

Jonathan continued to stare at Alex for a few seconds after he finished speaking. "Bloody Hell. If only Voldemort thought the way you do."

"I have some experience in this department," the sixteen-year-old muttered.

"Well, Voldemort doesn't see it the same way you do. He's been obsessed with the prophecy for years. Even tried to use Legilimency to force me to steal the copy of it that's kept in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic for him."

"That's why you were studying Occlumency then?" Alexander asked.

Jonathan nodded his head in response. "It was. Voldemort almost got the better of me in my fifth year. Barely managed to avoid a nasty trap that he'd set up for me. He tried to make me think he had Sirius captive in the Ministry building. Fortunately, Sirius and I had been communicating with magic mirrors for years. Ever since I hit puberty and realized that there were some things that I just couldn't talk to Mum and Dad about. Anyway, I contacted Sirius and we straightened things out."

"I don't get it. Why did you wait so long to start studying Occlumency after that?"

"I didn't," Jonathan defended hotly. "But the only person who could teach me was Snape."

"I've heard of him. Cedric mentioned him once; he's the Potions Master, right?"

"He is. He's also my version of Professor Reynolds."

"Oh," Alex said in surprise. Then, he smiled. "I take it back; I totally understand why you didn't master Occlumency until this year."

"I tried to learn it because of the danger of Voldemort using Legillimency on me and because Dumbledore said I shouldn't know what the prophecy says until after I could protect my mind. But Snape and I hate each other. I just couldn't clear my mind of emotions around him."

"Makes sense."

"Well, I finally learned enough with that book we were sharing that Dumbledore let me in on the big secret. Trust me when I tell you that it's best if you don't stick too close to me."

"I'm thinking I'll take my chances," Alexander said. "I still want to get to know you and the rest of the Potter clan."

"I shouldn't be glad about that, but I am," Jonathan said with a soft smile.

"I thought of another question I want to ask you." There were actually many questions he wanted to ask, but Jonathan wasn't the best person to ask about whether or not James and Lily had searched for him. He would have been so young for most of it that he probably wouldn't remember it if they had.

"Shoot."

"Does Draco Malfoy have a crush on you or your sister?"

"W-What?" Jonathan sputtered.

"He's always hanging around the two of you. He clearly doesn't like your friends and he just sits there and scowls most of the time. So the only logical answer I can come up with is that he has a crush on one of you."

"No, it's nothing like that," the older teen responded defensively.

"Oh," Alexander said before kicking a little broken piece of concrete out of his path. "Then what is it?"

Jonathan let a frustrated sigh out of his nose. "Do you know anything about the Malfoy family?"

"Only what Eric told me. They're an old, Pureblood family that was rumored to be allied with the Dark Lord. And most of the American Purebloods assume that the father is a Death Eater because he hasn't sued you and your family for fingering him one yet."

"Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater," Jonathan said in a voice full of conviction. "And Draco formerly was one."

"You're hanging around a Death Eater?" Alex said in sudden alarm.

"I said 'formerly was one.' He was a Death Eater, but he isn't anymore. His father buggered something up and landed the whole family in trouble. We have a couple guesses as to what he botched, but it was big enough that Draco was given a suicide mission to kill Headmaster Dumbledore."

"Did he fail or did he have a change of heart?" the green-eyed Wizard asked.

"A little of both, actually. He tried a couple of different things that failed before he took Dumbledore up on his offer of sanctuary. Fortunately, none of them had any lasting damage; except for what happened to old Thicknesse."

"Thicknesse," Alexander muttered. It took him a moment to recognize the name. "That was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor whose brain got fried, right?"

"The one and only," Jonathan confirmed. "Malfoy tried to use the Imperius Curse on him, but it didn't work quite right. Pius Thicknesse worked for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement before being assigned to Hogwarts and had some skill at resisting the Imperius Curse. Malfoy had pretty limited experience with the curse; he'd only successfully cast it on a couple of people who were inexperienced with resisting it. He'd never tried it on someone like Thicknesse. When Thicknesse started to resist it, Malfoy put too much power into the spell and ended up addling his brains. Thicknesse can barely hold a teacup anymore."

Alexander shook his head. "He ruined a man's life. How can you act so blasé about it?"

"You don't seem to get it; this is war. Even if it's only happening behind the scenes right now, people are out there dying."

"But still-" the younger Wizard tried to protest.

"Thicknesse was a Ministry man, though and through. Just like Umbridge before him, he was _torturing_ students who challenged the official line that Voldemort hadn't returned. He tortured Charles and Cara to get to me," Jonathan declared in irritation.

Alexander gaped like a fish for several seconds. "I'm sorry; I didn't know."

"No reason you should have," Jonathan said gruffly.

"So Malfoy changed sides," Alexander thought aloud. "And that's why he's always so nervous. He thinks that Voldemort will go after him for disloyalty."

"It wouldn't be the first time."

"Is that also why the Slytherin students all seem to hate him?" the younger boy asked as he thought about the riot at the school before Christmas.

Jonathan nodded his head in response.

The pair stood in the quiet courtyard for over a minute, neither saying a word to the other. After a bit, Alexander decided he'd learned more than enough for one day; his other questions would have to wait. Jonathan Potter was no longer in the mood to answer his inquiries.

"We should rejoin the others," Alexander said before leading his biological brother out of the secluded spot.


	24. Chapter 24

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 24: Twenty Three: Valentine's Day**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Twenty-Three – Valentine's Day**

Alexander Cullen was standing in the bedroom that he shared on weekends with Charles and Jonathan Potter. And he was not pleased about it in the least.

For once, his displeasure didn't stem from the constant stream of tense and awkward moments that filled his weekends spent with the Potters. No, his irritation at the moment stemmed from the fact that, when he'd agreed to spend weekends with the Potters, he'd failed to realize that that would mean he wouldn't be able to spend Valentine's Day with his boyfriend.

The Wizard cursed for the twentieth time in an hour as he pulled his dark jacket on. Charles and Jonathan were also in the room, each pulling on the dress robes that they'd worn to the Yule Ball.

"Come on boys, your mother wants to take pictures of you before you go off!" James Potter called through the closed door.

Alexander grit his teeth so hard that it hurt. Although he was slowly warming up to Lily Potter and hadn't quite figured out how she fit into his world, she definitely wasn't his mother.

The trio of boys emerged from the bedroom a few short minutes later. Lily Potter was standing in the middle of the room setting up a camera to take pictures of her children in front of the fireplace. Cara was standing off to the side in her pale blue dress, tapping her foot impatiently. James was standing off to the other side commiserating with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

The Cullen Wizard hadn't had any contact with the werewolf since their brief encounter with one another when Remus had accompanied the Potters to their first meeting with Alexander. Given the way the wolf had acted towards the Cullens and the Hales at that time, Alexander wasn't too keen on interacting with him at all.

The three older Wizards all ended their conversation abruptly when the boys entered and went to greet them.

Sirius whistled loudly. "Now those are three dapper-looking boys you got there, Jamesy. You sure they're yours?"

"Of course," James replied cockily. "Do you know any Wizard good-looking enough to sire them?"

Remus smiled at Alexander. "It's good to see you again," he greeted warmly.

Alexander gave the werewolf a tight smile and nodded his head up and down once.

"You're not wearing robes," the prematurely graying man noted.

"Most of the New England boys won't be," the sixteen-year-old Wizard began to explain evenly. "This dance isn't nearly as formal as the Yule Ball."

"I see. I suppose it would be easier to dance without long robes getting tangled up with your legs."

"I won't be dancing," Alexander said icily. "I have a boyfriend back home and I won't dance with anyone but him."

Remus's smile faded slightly, but he kept the corners of his mouth mostly upturned.

Before the conversation could go any further, Lily arrived and began to force the children to stand in front of the fireplace for a series of pictures. She took one of the boys, one of just Cara, and then one of all of the children standing together. Lily was about to send the children off to the ball when Sirius stopped her and insisted on taking one more picture: one of all of the Potter family, included Alexander.

The green-eyed boy withheld comment on his inclusion in the 'Potter family' category by Sirius.

Throughout the little photo session, Alexander did his best to plaster a fake smile on his face. He managed to fake being happy for several minutes for the benefit of Lily Potter—she had been making such an effort to get to know Alexander without smothering him—that he actively wanted to give her the little bit of happiness that she would garner from the 'family photo.' A photograph was far too trivial a matter for Alexander to bother being defiant to the point of making the woman cry over.

Once the photos were finished, Alexander, Cara, Jonathan, and Charles made their way to the Dining Hall. As soon as they arrived, they split up. Cara went to join Cormac McLaggen; Jonathan to join Katie Bell; Charles to join his 'friend,' Laura Madley; and Alexander to check on the party decorations.

Alexander couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous as he watched his biological siblings with their dates. He finally had a boyfriend and he couldn't spend the most romantic day of the year with him. It was infuriating.

After checking on the enchanted, singing cherub statues and the ever-blooming bouquets of flowers that were decorating the tables, he decided to head for the buffet. Nothing would make him stop being mad with himself for not realizing that Valentine's Day fell on a weekend, but chocolate would make him feel a tiny bit better.

The Wizard shoved a whole chocolate chip cookie into his mouth before picking up a plate and piling it high with sugary sweets. As he walked down the table loading his plate, he almost spit the cookie out of his mouth when he caught sight of the girl standing at the end of the table getting a cup of red fruit punch.

It was Cirilla Bellcroft. That, in itself, was not surprising. The strange thing that caught Alexander's attention was her hair. Rather than being its usual strawberry blonde color, it was platinum blonde.

The blue-eyed girl looked up at Alexander and frowned when she saw his surprised expression. "What?" she demanded.

The black-haired boy quickly chewed and swallowed the cookie in his mouth before speaking. "Your hair. It, uh, looks nice."

"Really?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yes. Surprisingly, yes."

Cirilla smiled at Alexander. It wasn't one of the usual fake smiles that she used when she was forcing herself to be a polite, Pureblood princess. It was a real smile, the likes of which Alex honestly couldn't recall having ever seen on her face.

"Who're you here with? That guy from the British Ministry?"

It took the Cullen Wizard a moment to realize that Cirilla was referring to Cedric Diggory. "No. I'm here on my own. You?"

The Witch brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "Me too."

"I'm filling the empty space in my heart with chocolate. Care to join in?" Alexander offered.

Cirilla released a light, airy laugh. "My mother insists that I stay for at least an hour, so what is there to lose?"

The unusual duo soon found themselves sitting at one of the tables, each of them with their own pile of snacks.

"You did a wonderful job with the decorations," Cirilla complimented stiffly between bites of cake. Her forkless hand was prodding an ever-blooming rose centerpiece.

"You seem different tonight, and I don't just mean your hair."

The Bellcroft Witch surprised Alexander by laughing again. "I feel different lately. Happier."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"Liar," Cirilla said as she licked a bit of pink frosting off of her fork.

"No, I mean it."

The Witch eyed her rival critically for a moment. "You really do, don't you?"

Alexander nodded his head before taking a bite out of another cookie.

"Why? You hate me."

The Wizard took his time chewing his cookie before answering. "I don't hate you; I've never _hated_ you. We just have different opinions on just about everything."

"You ran against me for Student Body President," the Witch pointed out.

"Like I said, we have different opinions. I thought that the school needed some changes, you felt that it didn't."

"That's it?"

"Yes, that's it. You thought I ran against you out of spite?" the green-eyed boy asked incredulously.

"We were never really close or anything, but you knew me well enough to know how much I wanted that position. How much it meant to me."

"I did," Alexander admitted. "And it made me feel a bit guilty when I saw your face when Headmaster Justinius announced me as the winner. But I didn't run to hurt you. I ran because I felt . . . I _knew_ that there were things that needed to be done to make this school better. You didn't want those changes to take place, I did. And so did the majority of students."

"But I don't get why," Cirilla said in frustration. "Why do you want to get rid of our traditions?"

"What traditions have I gotten rid of? You can still wear the uniform if you want to. And you can write on parchment with a quill if you want to. All I did was help give everyone a few more options."

"Every student wore a uniform from the first day that this school was opened until the day you convinced the Board of Trustees to change the policy. The mandatory uniform policy lasted for centuries. How is that not a tradition?" the blonde challenged.

"They didn't wear the same sort of uniform through all of that time. They changed every few years," Alex said smoothly. "Setting aside for a minute whether the uniforms were a tradition or not, you can't ignore the fact that they were intentionally overpriced by the manufacturer in order to discriminate against Muggleborns and the less well-to-do Half-blood and Pureblood families."

Cirilla took a sip of her punch. "Lady Bitromer was always an old bitch," she muttered.

Alexander couldn't help but laugh at Cirilla's statement; he'd never heard her curse before. He decided to take advantage of the levity to change the topic of the conversation. "So what's with the hair? Why the change?"

"I decided that I didn't want to be like my sister anymore. I tried it and, no matter how much like her I managed to be, I was never happy," the Pureblood said seriously. "I picked a better idol."

"Good for you," Alexander said sincerely. His eyes drifted to look at Cara for a moment. "You shouldn't be who other people want you to be. Only who you want to be."

"I can't believe I'm sitting here with you and I'm actually having a good time," Cirilla said with a shake of her head.

"Neither can I."

"Why are you here on your own?"

"Why are you?" Alexander countered.

The girl gave him a superior smile. "I asked first."

"Drat," the boy said in mock defeat. "My boyfriend is too old for school." He saw no reason to spoil the good mood by bringing up the fact that is boyfriend wasn't a Wizard.

"You are quite the guy magnet lately. Matthieu Moreau has been watching you all evening. He's trying to figure out why we're sitting together. It won't be much longer before he asks you to dance."

"Then it won't be much longer before I tell him that I'm sick."

Cirilla laughed yet again. "Why? He seems perfect for you. He's attractive, smart, powerful."

"I'm in love with someone else. Your turn: why are you here alone?"

"I haven't found my attractive, smart, and powerful Wizard just yet."

"What about the Slytherin you went to the First Task with? He seems to fit the bill."

The Witch shrugged. "He's not a bright as you might think." The pair sat in silence for a few seconds before the Witch asked a question. "So, does this mean that we're not enemies anymore?"

"I don't think we were ever really enemies."

"But we're not friends," Cirilla stressed.

Alexander smiled. "We can be frenemies. Y'know, friendly enemies. Good-natured rivals."

The Witch smiled back before raising her cup of punch. Alexander mimicked the motion as the two toasted their new relationship.

Alexander and Cirilla sat together for a while longer, softly joking about everything from their professors to the assignments they'd been given recently. The defrosting of his relationship with his former rival gave Alexander a strange sense of hope about things with the Potter family. Maybe, just maybe, they'd work things out and rid themselves of the awkward distance that existed between them.

After a short while, Cedric Diggory made an appearance at the party.

"Excuse me," he said to Cirilla Bellcroft. "May I borrow Alexander for a bit?"

"You can have him," the Witch said as she wadded up a napkin. "I think I've had enough of this party as I can stand." She rose from her seat before smiling at the younger of the two Wizards. "See you on Monday?"

"Sure," he answered.

Once the Witch had left, Cedric took her seat at the table. "I thought you two didn't like each other."

"We don't. That is, we haven't worked all the way up to liking each other just yet."

Cedric made a humming sound to convey his understanding. "I haven't had a chance to talk to you since that awful day that Charles was poisoned."

"I'm fine, before you ask," Alexander said pointedly. "How much do you know?"

"Enough." The British Wizard lowered his voice. "Even if I hadn't already figured out you were Charles's brother because of the blood, I would have by what Dumbledore asked me to do."

"What?"

"He asked, well, more like ordered me to romance you."

"Excuse me?" Alexander demanded.

"Not so loud," Cedric admonished. "Don't worry, I got the hint at the Yule Ball. I won't try anything."

"Why would Dumbledore ask you to do something like that?"

"He thinks that if you fall in love with me, that you'll be willing to go back to Britain with the Potters when the summer comes."

Alexander clenched his jaw tight. "That old son of a . . ." he trailed off momentarily. "Here I was starting to think that I could work things out with the Potters and they go and pull something like this."

"They don't know," Cedric added quickly. "Dumbledore told me to be discreet. To try and work things up to the point where I'd need to go to the Potters and explain my intentions to them."

"You're sure they aren't involved?"

"Positive."

The younger Wizard shook his head back and forth in irritation. "I could throttle him."

"I don't know how you ended up with you current family, but Dumbledore blames himself for it. I think that he believes that if he can do something to make you go back to the Potters _willingly_ and _happily_, that it will somehow make up for whatever mistake he made in the past."

"That doesn't justify trying to trick me like this."

"It wasn't a trick, exactly," Cedric started to explain. When Alexander glared at him, he was quick to qualify his statement. "He knows that we danced at the Yule Ball and that I like you. I don't think he knows that you're involved with someone. From where he's sitting, he probably thinks that he's doing something that will make you happy."

"But he's not doing it to make me happy. He's doing it to make himself feel better."

Cedric nodded his head in agreement. "I know. What he's asked me to do, it isn't right. You don't have to worry about me following through. I'll tell him that I'm trying and leave it at that, okay?"

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Alexander said. He stood up from the chair to leave but, as soon as he was upright, he noticed Matthieu Moreau begin to move across the room in his direction. "Damn."

"What?"

"Moreau," the black-haired Wizard said with a sigh. "I hate to ask this, but would you mind escorting me out? I think that if you're with me when I leave, he'll let me be."

"My pleasure," Cedric said firmly as he stood up and began to walk alongside Alexander. "I'd prefer it if you never talked to that sociopath. With the spells he used at the Second Task . . ."

Alexander soon found himself back in the Potters' quarters. To his surprise, only Lily Potter seemed to be there. When he saw the Witch, he had a moment in which his irritation over what Dumbledore had asked Cedric to do flared up. The former Hufflepuff had seemed certain that the Potters weren't in on it, but he couldn't help but wonder.

"You're back earlier than expected," the Witch said morosely from where she was standing next to the fireplace.

"I wasn't having any fun."

"I suppose you wouldn't. Would you mind sitting with me and chatting for a little bit?"

"I guess not," Alexander replied before going over and settling himself down in the armchair across from the one the Witch was standing in front of. "James left you alone on Valentine's Day?"

"We celebrated on Thursday night," the redhead explained as she sat down. "He was just going to sit around here and wait for you and your brothers and sister to return, but I insisted he go out and have some fun with Remus and Sirius instead."

"But none of you are to be seen," the green-eyed boy pointed out.

"Your headmaster was kind enough to let them portkey out of our rooms and to a pub in Washington, D.C."

"That's good," the Wizard said in relief.

"I wanted to have a quick chat with you because I need to thank you for a couple of things and then apologize to you for a few other things."

"Huh?"

"I want to thank you again for taking the time to get to know all of us. I know it hasn't been easy with Cara and James's attitudes. Or with the discomfort that surrounds the entire situation. I'm trying to get them to be more understanding, but James is so hardheaded and Cara takes after him in that regard. And I'm trying to respect the fact that you can't just throw a switch or say a spell and have this relationship that I've always envisioned us having. It's hard to accept that you grew up without me and that things will probably never be what I imagined, but I really am trying. You've been extraordinarily patient with me. With all of us. It really does mean a lot to us that you agreed to spend the weekends with us. Even if you only suggested it in order to avoid a long, messy legal dispute."

"It wasn't just that," Alexander interrupted. "I honestly do want to know about you all. But you're right, it is hard. Especially since there are so many things you won't talk about."

Lily looked a bit guilty. "If you have questions, just ask."

"I will," Alexander said firmly. "When I'm ready to ask them."

The Witch nodded her head. "I also failed to properly thank you for donating your blood to save Charles's life. With all of the consequences that came out of it, many of which you clearly anticipated, it was a very brave and selfless thing to do. And I can never thank you enough for it.

"As for my apologies, I guess I best begin by apologizing to you for the way things happened the first time we met one another. I was so focused on getting you back, that I spoke unkindly to your . . . other family. They clearly love you and have taken excellent care of you, but I didn't want to see it at the time. I just saw them as the people that were standing in the way of me getting my little boy back.

"Secondly, I never apologized to you for leaving you with my sister. I thought that you'd be safe there. That she'd honor her word about keeping you. My sister and I were never particularly close, but I loved her. And I allowed that love to blind me to the person she'd become. In hindsight, I know that what I did was foolish and I hope that, someday, you'll forgive me for it. I should have worked harder to find a better place to hide you away from Voldemort; I'm sorry."

Alexander was happy to accept the first apology, but the second one made him feel weird. If he'd never been left with Lily's sister, he never would have found his way to the Cullens. To the family and the man he loved.

"Finally, I have to apologize to you for making you stay here tonight. It's Valentine's Day and I have you cooped up at this school when your boyfriend is back wherever it is you call 'home.' So I talked to Headmaster Justinius, and he's ordered the portkey mistress to send you home for the rest of the weekend whenever you wish to leave."

"Really?" Alexander asked in excitement.

"Yes, really. I was actually just about to come get you," the Witch replied. "It was thoughtless and selfish of us to have you stay here on Valentine's Day. So please, go and be with your boyfriend."

"Thank you so much," the boy almost shouted in happiness. He jumped up out of his chair and pumped his arms into the air.

Lily Potter stood up, looking very pleased at being able to make the boy happy. Her happy expression remained on her face as she ushered him out the door of the room and towards the portkey site.

Soon enough, Alexander was racing his way to the Cullen house and jumping at Edward in excitement.

"What are you doing here?" the vampire asked in ill-concealed joy.

"Lily decided that it was wrong having me stay away from my boyfriend on Valentine's Day," Alexander explained before forcefully pressing his lips against his boyfriend's. After the action ended, he continued, "So, is it too late to make real plans?"

"Absolutely not," Edward answered with a smile.


	25. Chapter 25

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 25: Twenty Four: My Friend, Jacob**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Twenty-Four – My Friend, Jacob **

February faded into March far faster than Alexander would have expected it to. Things with the Potters remained primarily strained and distant, but they had all managed to go over a month without any major fights.

It was the last Wednesday of March—smack dab in the middle of spring break—and Alexander was sitting on the floor of his room wrapping a birthday present for Jonathan. The older Wizard's birthday was the following Tuesday, the thirty-first of the month, but the 'family' birthday party would be held over the weekend.f

The black-haired boy had spent a significant amount of time trying to figure out what to get his older biological brother. He wasn't very experienced at gift-giving. His was the only birthday that the Cullen family ever celebrated and, as they tended to buy anything that they wanted as soon as they wanted it, the vampires all preferred either something homemade or to do some sort of activity that involved spending time with the mortal for Christmas. Eric and Marcia, likewise, both preferred that their friend spring for something like dinner and movie over him buying them something material. In fact, the only traditional birthday present Alexander had purchased for anyone in the past year had been a box of assorted sweets for Charles in late January. It was a perfectly fine belated birthday gift for a younger biological brother that he didn't know very well. But Alexander had spent a significant amount of time with Jonathan over the past two months and, as a result, a pile of candy seemed somehow insufficient.

He ended up settling for a set of books on advanced defensive magic that Cedric Diggory had suggested. It was a practical gift. And, because Defense Against the Dark Arts was Jonathan's favorite subject, there was a better than decent chance that the material would be genuinely interesting to the Boy-Who-Lived.

Alexander finished carefully wrapping the book up in red and gold paper. Satisfied with the job he'd done wrapping the present, he set it aside and then went upstairs.

Most of the rest of the family was out hunting for the day. A student had skinned his knee at Forks High School the day before and Jasper was in desperate need of a good feeding after being pushed to the brink of his self-control. Only Rosalie stayed behind; it was her turn to stay home with Alexander.

The Wizard looked around the living room where his sister was sitting, quietly reading a book. "You wanna play a video game?" he asked after a moment.

Rosalie looked up at her younger brother and quirked an eyebrow.

"I'll take that as a 'no.'"

The blonde vampire looked over at the television and its attached video game systems for a moment. "I suppose I could."

"No," Alexander said with a shake of his head. "It was a stupid suggestion; you hate video games."

"But I love spending time with you," the immortal countered.

The mortal boy grinned. "We don't have to play video games, but I really need to do something to pass the time until Edward comes home. I'm bored."

Rosalie smiled knowingly. "You two are certainly coming along nicely. He can barely stand to be away from you and it appears that you feel the some way. I remember when Emmett and I first started feeling like that about one another."

Alexander couldn't stop himself from blushing.

"You're perfect for one another."

"You really think so?" he asked.

"Of course," the vampire said as if it was obvious. "We all do. Edward has never been this happy and neither have you. You two were made for one another, I just know it."

"Glad to know I have your vote of confidence in my love life."

"What are big sisters for if not to cheer you on? And, of course, to inflict horrible pain upon those that harm you." The vampire's smile became a bit more playful. "Now, while I am more than willing to play a video game with you, I think I have a better idea."

"Oh?"

"You're on spring break, Alexander. You have the perfect cover for exploring Forks. Everyone is gone, so this is your golden opportunity to go investigate the town without one of us standing over your shoulder. It isn't much, but I know you've wanted the chance to see it on your own for some time now."

"You're not afraid that I'll get into a car wreck or something?"

"Alice has been watching Chief Swan's future rather closely ever since she had that vision back in January," Rosalie explained. The vision she was referring to was, of course, the one of Carlisle being called by the chief of police to examine a body found in the woods. The body had been Alexander's. Had the seer not had the vision, the family wouldn't have been able to acquire the details necessary to save the mortal from three nomadic vampires. "If she has a vision about Swan dealing with a car wreck or anything else related to you, she'll call immediately and I'll be at your side in no time at all."

Alexander didn't really have to think about the suggestion too long after that reassurance. Because of the cover story that the family used for why he didn't attend Forks High School, he had yet to really have the opportunity to explore the little town in the year and a half since the Cullen family had moved there.

Not five minutes after Rosalie had made the suggestion, Alexander was cruising down the road in his car. As expected, there wasn't much to Forks. Despite that fact, the Wizard was thrilled to be able to see it all up close and on his own. It wasn't long until he'd driven through the town twice. He then parked his car in one of the spaces outside of the one and only coffee shop in town and went inside.

Every head in the room snapped up to look at Alexander when he entered. He was a stranger in a small town, even if he had lived there for well over a year.

The boy bought a cup of hot cocoa before taking a seat in a booth by the window. He sat in silence, enjoying his drink and watching the pleasant scenery outside. There were only a handful of people in the shop, all of whom were at least ten years older than him. Although it wasn't spring break in Forks, it was nearing four o'clock in the afternoon. The Wizard was beginning to wonder where all of the teenagers were.

After about ten minutes of sitting by himself, Alexander pulled out his cell phone and called the Black residence.

"_Hello_," a gruff voice came from the other end of the line.

"Um, hello, Mr. Black. This is Alexander. I was wondering if Jacob was in."

There was a momentary pause on the other end of the line. "_Just a minute._"

Alexander could hear Billy Black shout his son's name before the line went silent for almost a full minute. Thinking he'd been disconnected or something, he was just about to turn his phone off when a new voice came to the line. "_Hello?_"

"Hi, Jake."

"_Alex!_" the younger boy said in excitement. "_What's up?_"

"Not much. I'm just sitting in the coffee shop by myself. Thought I'd see what you were up to."

"_The coffee shop?_" Jake asked. "_You're bored and want me to come entertain you, don't you?_"

"You know me so well," Alexander said dryly. "You don't have to come. I just wanted someone to talk to."

"_No, it's cool, man. I haven't seen you since that night. And only the once before that. I can be there in about fifteen minutes. Is that good?_"

"I'll see you soon," Alexander said before hanging up. He put his phone away and went back to drinking his cocoa. After he finished it, he went back to the counter and bought two more cups; one for him, one for Jacob.

The Quileute teen showed up a short while later. His eyes found Alexander as soon as he entered the coffee shop and he made his way over to sit across from the other boy in his booth.

"That for me?" Jake asked as soon as he sat down, pointing to the second cup of cocoa.

Alexander nodded his head up and down once in response. "How have you been?"

"Pretty good," the younger teen answered as he took the beverage. "I think."

"You think?"

"It's still a lot to take in. Knowing that I might be . . ." he trailed off, the word 'werewolf'—even though the Quileute wolves were technically shapeshifters—was left unsaid. His eyes darted about the room as though he was suspicious of someone overhearing them.

"You might, you might not," Alexander said with a shrug. "Does worrying about it help you much?"

"You don't worry about the future?"

"I try to only worry about the things I can affect," the curly-haired boy clarified before taking a sip of his drink. "It doesn't always work. In fact, it doesn't work most of the time."

"There a story there?"

Alexander hesitated for several seconds. "Yes. I, uh, found my biological parents a couple of months ago."

"What! That's huge!" Jacob shouted, flailing his arms into the air dramatically and gaining the attention of everyone in the coffee shop.

The Cullen boy did his best to send Jake a withering glare, but it came off as a mild reproach at best. "It's something, that's for sure."

"You're not happy about it?" the russet-skinned teen questioned. It was pretty clear that he thought that finding a place to live that didn't involve vampires should be considered a godsend.

Ignoring Jacob's tone, Alexander answered. "Things are weird. I've been spending every weekend with them for two months, and we're just now starting to move past the uncomfortable awkward stage."

"But they're your family."

"They're my relatives. _Biological_ family," Alexander corrected firmly. "I hate that everyone seems to want to equate DNA to something more than what it is. I was with these people for a couple of months after I was born before they left me with some relative that they evidently didn't get along with. They left with an aunt of mine for an entire year before she dropped me off at a hospital to be rid of me. And then, it took a whole 'nother month before they even realized that I was gone. _And then_, whatever search they did for me was so minor that there isn't even a record of it," the boy vented.

Jacob stared at his friend in shock. "Oh."

"'Oh'? That's your big reaction to all of that? 'Oh'?"

"I don't know what else to say," the Quileute boy defended before staking a big gulp of his still-steaming cocoa.

"That makes two of us. After they found out about me, they made a bit of stink about wanting me back. I agreed to spend my weekends with them in order to prevent anything too messy, but it's all very awkward.

"I have three biological siblings. One seems really excited to have me around; one resents me for not being what she always thought I'd be; and one wants to get to know me, but, at the same time, is afraid of me getting caught up in some dangerous family problems."

"'Dangerous family problems'?" Jacob parroted questioningly. He frowned deeply and his eyebrows moved to meet one another in the center of his forehead.

Alexander felt like he could just smack himself in the head for letting that slip. For a moment, he pondered the Statute of Secrecy and the possible repercussions of telling Jacob everything. "Have you ever had a secret? Something you really wanted to tell but couldn't?"

"You have another big secret?" Jacob asked with a groan.

"And it's a big one. So, I need your word that you won't tell anyone. Ever." Jacob was about to say something, but Alexander continued speaking before the other teen could get anything out. "Remember when I said that there were people out there that would hurt you for knowing the truth? This is something like that. I'll tell you if you really want to know because we're friends, but I have to have your word that you'll keep it a secret."

Jake looked stunned. "I swear, I won't tell anyone."

Alexander looked about the room to make sure no one was eavesdropping before taking a deep breath, as he often did to steady his nerves. "I'm a Wizard."

The other teen's face remained blank for several seconds before he burst out laughing.

"I'm not joking," Alexander insisted.

"Y-You're telling met that you're a-a," he tried. Jacob couldn't finish what he was trying to say because he was laughing so hard.

The Cullen mortal crossed his arms and leaned back in the booth. He waited silently until the other boy finished laughing hysterically. "Are you done?" Alex eventually asked.

"Unless you want to tell another one," the long-haired teen quipped. He wiped his eyes before looking at his friend. To his surprise, Alexander had a totally sober yet somewhat irritated expression on his face. "Wait a minute . . . You're serious, aren't you?"

"Deadly serious," Alexander answered. He looked around the room to make sure the few people that had turned towards the pair during Jacob's bout of laughter were back to focusing on other things. Certain that he wasn't being watched, Alex sat his bag on the table and opened it, revealing his wand and, beneath it, the somewhat crumpled picture of Alexander and the Potters that had been taken on Valentine's Day.

Jacob looked into the bag at the little piece of wood. He was surprised at the level of detail that had gone into carving the leafy pattern. Not nearly as surprised as he was at the moving photograph of Alexander standing alongside five other people in what appeared to be robes, but still surprised.

"I'm a wand carrying, spell casting Wizard," Alexander said in a voice that was just barely above a whisper. "Haven't you wondered where I go to school?"

"Well, yeah. But I figured you were being homeschooled. Your parents are really, really old. They know enough, right?"

"They do," Alexander confirmed. "But they don't homeschool me. I go to a school for Wizards and Witches on the other end of the country. I travel there and back everyday with magic."

"That's . . . so cool," Jacob said brightly.

The older teen couldn't help but smile at his friend's reaction. "I'm glad you think so."

"So, if I were to tell someone, a bunch of wand-waving people will knock down my door and kill me?"

"Not kill, but they might make you forget that you know about magic; I'm not entirely sure because I'm an a bit of a gray area here. There's a law that was passed centuries ago called the International Statute of Secrecy. You see, Wizards and Witches have our own governing systems in each country and the magical governments met in the seventeenth century and agreed to keep magic a secret.

"I'm walking on a thin line right now. It's technically illegal to tell a Muggle—that is, a non-magical person—about real magic except in very rare circumstances. For instance, we can tell immediate family members and people we plan to make immediate family members, like fiancés and such. But we can also talk about it with people already in the know. I'm skating the rules a bit here because you already know about shapeshifters and vampires and because I don't think you really count as a Muggle."

Jacob gaped at his friend. "Wait, are you trying to tell me that _I'm_-"

"No," Alex said with a laugh when he realized what the other boy was about to say. "But the potential to be a shapeshifter is something that is passed through family lines. Sam Uley can change into a wolf because one of his ancestors could. And you might be able to as well for the same reason. In my book, that qualifies you for 'not a Muggle' status. Sometimes magical parents have a non-magical child. I'm considering this to be something like; even if you aren't a shapeshifter, you have the genetic potential to be so I don't count you as a Muggle. That, coupled with the fact that you already know about vampires and stuff should mean that we're in the clear.

"Besides, even if it was illegal for me to tell you, there still wouldn't be a problem unless they found out that I told you. And unless you go blabbing about it or I start doing magic in front of you while I'm still a minor, then they shouldn't find out."

"What do you mean about being a minor?" Jake asked.

Alex smiled at how easily Jacob was taking the news. He chalked it up to the fact that the other boy had already had to deal with the existence of vampires and shapeshifters. "It's illegal for us to use magic outside of school until we turn seventeen. If I do, they'll detect it. Given that I'm in a Muggle area, they'll figure out pretty quick that I'd just broken the Statute of Secrecy, too. If I were an adult, there would at least be a chance of them missing it."

"You can drive a car but you can't cast spells outside of school?" the Quileute guffawed.

"And when I can use magic outside of school, it will still be another year before I can vote a few more until I'm allowed to drink alcohol," Alexander added.

"I was hoping you'd be able to show me a spell or two," Jacob said in disappointment before shaking his head. "And here I thought my life was getting really complicated. So, wait, you started telling me all of this because you mentioned your biological brother wanting to keep you out of danger. Does that mean they're Wizards too? Ones that are in some sort of danger?"

"They're Wizards and Witches, yes" Alexander said with an affirmative nod. "My older biological brother, Jonathan, has a dark Wizard hunting him. He's afraid that if it gets out that we're related that I'll become a target, just like everyone else in his family."

"So he's trying to protect you. Seems like a pretty normal thing for a guy to do for his little brother."

"Y'know," the green-eyed boy began, "he said something very similar to me back in January. He found out about me because I donated blood to save another biological sibling's life. I gave blood to save the life of Charles, who is only fourteen. When I asked Jonathan about how Charles was doing a couple of days later, he said that it was normal for me to be worried about my little brother."

"My sisters fuss over me all the time when they're home," Jake groused.

It was Alexander's turn to snicker. "I really do care about Charles and Jonathan."

"And the others?"

"I don't know. The last of the kids is my twin sister, Cara. She and I don't get along very well. Mostly because she resents that I'm not abandoning the family that raised me for her family. Every time we talk, it ends up turning into a fight. So more often than not, we just don't talk. And that makes it pretty hard to get to know her. There's a part of me that wants to care for her like a sister, but I just don't. Just because we're related by blood, even if we are twins . . . It's just not enough."

"I think I understand," Jacob said. "If I found out that I was adopted, I'd still love my sisters. And I don't think I'd just start loving someone else like I love them just because we have the same parents."

"The parents are another mess," Alexander sighed. "My biological mother, Lily, is trying so hard. She's been making a pretty big effort lately. James, my biological father, has been trying to get to know me, but it's pretty clear that he agrees with Cara. The main problem with them is that every time I start to warm up to them, I go back to wondering about why there is no record of a search for me. How much could they have loved me if they didn't do everything they could to try and find me?"

Jake eyed Alex critically. "Have you asked them about it?"

"No. I keep telling myself that things will become less awkward in a few more weeks and that I should just ask when I'm comfortable with asking them the deep questions. But it's becoming pretty clear to me that not asking those questions is part of why things are still so awkward."

"Does that mean that you're never going to ask them?"

"I am going to ask," Alexander said with great resolve. "Not this weekend, though. Next."

"Why put it off for another week?"

"Because this weekend is Jonathan's birthday party. I don't want to ruin it with a discussion that stands a pretty good chance of turning into a full-scale shouting match."

The two sat in silence for a few seconds as they drank their cocoa. After a short while passed, Jacob spoke up. "I'm really glad you told me all of that. We feel more like real friends now."

"We are real friends," Alex replied. "But in return, I expect to be the first person to know about it if you ever turn into a giant wolf."

"It's a promise," Jake laughed.


	26. Chapter 26

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 26: Twenty Five: Making Connections**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Twenty-Five – Making Connections**

Jonathan Potter's birthday party went off without a hitch. It was a quiet, family affair; not at all what Alexander had expected. The Potters had always struck him as a being the type of family that would make a huge fuss over birthdays, even if turning eighteen wasn't a milestone for a Wizard in the way it was for Muggles or even Muggleborns.

The party was held mid-afternoon on Saturday. Only the Potters attended because it was a family-only event. Not even Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, who were extremely close with the Potter family, were invited. They, Alexander later learned, would be attending a second celebration to be held on Jonathan's actual birthday the following week along with the youth's schoolmates. That party, the Cullen boy assumed, would be the loud ruckus he'd been expecting.

He was invited, as a friend of Jonathan's. But he wasn't sure if he would attend. It seemed to be just the sort of situation that could accidentally reveal his connection to the Potter family to the world at large.

The Boy-Who-Lived seemed to genuinely like all of the presents he received. He warmly thanked Charles for a box of sweets, Cara for some Quidditch gear, his parents for the new broom they purchased for him, and Alexander for the set of defensive spell books he'd ordered.

There was a certain longing in the boy's eyes when he opened his gifts from Cara and his parents that Alexander couldn't quite understand. He wanted to ask about it right away, but feared that he'd end up pointing out something that Jonathan would prefer his parents and sister not know about. So Alexander ended up waiting until he had a moment alone with Jonathan. That moment came when Lily began to hand out pieces of cake to everyone; Jonathan received the first piece and Alex was able to corner him off to the side while Charles and Cara were waiting for their pieces.

"Problem?" Alexander questioned.

"What? No, everything is great."

"You suck at lying," the younger boy pointed out. "You're sulking."

"It's nothing."

"If it were nothing, you wouldn't be sulking," Alexander pointed out with a superior smirk that he'd picked up from Rosalie. "And saying that 'it's nothing,' proves that there is an 'it' to begin with."

Jonathan grunted in frustration. "I haven't been able to play Quidditch in almost a year. Not since the final game of the season last year."

"Playing a _sport_ means that much to you?" Alex asked almost incredulously. "It means so much that you'd pout on your birthday."

"It's not really the sport that I miss. When I play, I don't have to think about Voldemort or the war or any of the other things wrong with the world. I only have time to focus on the game. It's as if, for an hour or so, I can pretend I'm not who I am. I'm just another bloke playing a game that Wizards all over Britain play on a regular basis."

It was a remarkably honest answer. But then again, Jonathan had started being more and more open with Alexander ever since their talk in the Cauldron over a month prior, so it shouldn't have surprised the Cullen Wizard so much to hear it.

Alexander chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment. "Well, I don't know how to play, but you could teach me."

Jonathan looked at the green-eyed boy in shock.

"We don't have to," Alex added quickly, unsure of what the older boy's expression meant. "I just thought that, if it's something you can play two-on-two, we could play. You, me, Charles, and Cara, that is. Just modify the Quodpot field as necessary and grab some brooms from the school's supply. But if you don't want to-"

"Alex and me versus Cara and Charles!" Jonathan shouted, surprising everyone in the room.

"What?" Cara asked, he mouth full of birthday cake.

"Alex just asked me to teach him to play Quidditch!" the oldest of the Potter children exclaimed excitedly before he began to wolf down his piece of cake. His statement was a bit of an exaggeration of what Alexander had said, but the other boy let it pass.

James and Lily shared a surprised look at one another.

"You want to learn to play Quidditch?" Alex's twin asked slowly.

"Well, sure," the sixteen-year-old boy answered.

Charles was grinning broadly. "That's ace!" he shouted between mouthfuls of cake.

"I'll take that to mean 'cool.'"

In a matter of minutes, Alexander found himself with a broom in his hand being marched off towards the Quodpot field. The four children didn't go by themselves; James followed along behind them under an invisibility cloak. Both Lily and James wanted to go and watch, but there were many students who hadn't left campus for spring break—for the Hogwarts students, in particular, the vacation had been unexpected and so many weren't able to plan accordingly—and the students that did leave campus had begun to return already. It was too much of a risk that they might be seen. So they drew straws, with James winning the opportunity to watch the match.

Alexander suspected that Lily cheated somehow in order to let her husband win. He seemed far more enthusiastic about watching the game than she was and the Witch didn't seem all that disappointed or surprised with the outcome.

The entire afternoon was devoted to playing the sport. Alexander quickly found that he had some natural talent as a seeker. He played on Jonathan's team and, while his biological brother defender their goal, Alexander raced about the field in search of the little golden snitch.

Charles played the position of seeker for the other team. As the game progressed, he became increasingly irritable and seemed to be angry that he was being beaten by Alexander during the latter's first experience playing the game. He began to curse—something Alexander had never heard the younger Wizard do—and mutter about how he liked to play chaser and how two-on-two wasn't any fun because his position was eliminated.

Honestly, much of the talk of positions and the names of the different balls used in the game might as well have been Greek to Alex. Jonathan had gone through a quick discussion of the rules of the game at the outset, but all Alex really knew was that it was his job to catch the golden, winged ball that flitted about. And that everyone was having an amazing time. In fact, this was the single, most fun activity that he'd done with the Potter family in the two months he'd been spending weekends with them.

Jonathan promised that Alex would have even more fun on a proper Quidditch pitch with multiple goals and full teams. Playing two-on-tow with one goal and no bludger, he said, was only half as much fun as a normal game.

Alexander didn't know what a 'bludger' was, but he didn't like the sound of it.

When the fourth game in as many hours came to a close with Alexander catching the snitch, the four teens decided that it was time to go inside and clean up for dinner.

Later that night, Alexander was quietly reading a book on the Statute of Secrecy—double-checking his theory about how telling Jacob Black that he was a Wizard wasn't a violation of international law—in the main room of the suite. The room was empty except for him. At least, it was before Cara plopped herself down on the couch next to him.

"What are you reading?" she asked after an initial moment of silence

"Just some stuff on the Statute of Secrecy," Alexander explained. He could tell from the way his twin sister was looking at him as he continued to read that she wanted to talk to him about something, so he closed the book and sat it aside. "Something on your mind?"

"No," Cara answered too quickly.

"Is being a sucky liar a biological trait?"

"What?"

"Nothing," the black-haired Wizard said with a shake of his head. He pulled his dark-tinted glasses off and rubbed at his eyes.

"It was fun, playing Quidditch today. It was the first time we all did something where things weren't . . ." she trailed off.

"Unbearably awkward and tense," Alexander finished.

Cara didn't respond as to whether her twin's completion of the thought was what she meant or not. "I'm trying."

"Huh?"

"I wasn't before, but I am now," the hazel-eyed Witch began again. "When I first found out that you were my brother, I didn't know what to think. You were so very different from what I always thought my twin brother would be like. I mean, we're twins, so I thought we'd have more in common than we do. I couldn't stand that you weren't the person I always thought you'd be. I didn't want to get to know you; I wanted you to become the person I pictured in my head. But I don't want that anymore."

"Then what do you want?"

"To get to know you. I want to start over, if you'll let me."

"Start from scratch," Alexander mused aloud. "Just start from the beginning and try to get to know one another?"

"If we can," Cara added hopefully.

The Wizard smiled before turning to face his twin. He extended his hand out to her. "Alexander Cullen," he introduced.

The Witch smiled, "A pleasure to meet you _Alex_. I'm Cara Potter."

"The pleasure is mutual."

Alexander and Cara stayed up for several hours talking in front of the fire. They swapped stories about growing up in their respective homes and about going to their respective schools. The Witch couldn't believe that Alexander had decided to start up a friendship with his former rival, Cirilla. Alex, likewise, couldn't understand how Cara could kiss Cormac McLaggen, a boy who had once eaten so many doxy eggs on a dare that he'd ended up in the hospital wing.

But for every difference they found in one another, they also found a similarity. For instance, they both had a habit of taking a deep breath to try and calm down before speaking. Although Cara said that she rarely succeeded in actually calming herself down, she did it anyways. She claimed that it was a trait they had inherited from Lily Potter.

Thinking back, Alex could remember the Witch taking a deep breath whenever she was about to say something of major importance, like when she told the story of how Alexander had ended up in Petunia's care.

The Cullen boy finally made it to bed shortly after midnight. He was surprised to find that Charles was still awake and waiting for him. The younger of the two green-eyed boys was wearing yellow fleece pajamas with the Hufflepuff crest on its breast pocket.

"What's up Charles?" Alex whispered in an effort to not wake up Jonathan, who was snoring on the other side of the room.

The redheaded boy pulled out a box of assorted chocolate candies and handed them to Alexander. "I wanted to thank you for saving me. Twice," he explained. "I found these for you when I was looking for something to give John. I hope you like them."

"Thanks," Alexander responded as he took the box. "You didn't have to."

"I had to do something; you're always doing things for me." With that, Charles crawled into his bed and went to sleep.

The Cullen boy remained where he stood. He examined the box of sweets in his hand and the forms of his two biological brothers for a long time. With a satisfied smile at how things had gone that day, he put the little box of candy in his book bag and went to bed.

The rest of the weekend was fairly quiet. There were no arguments and very few awkward moments. Perhaps most importantly, however, was the fact that no one called Alexander by the name 'Harry.' Not even James.

Despite the rather pleasant weekend the Wizard had with his biological relatives, he was still extremely relieved to be home on Monday afternoon. He hadn't bothered remaining at the New England Academy to do work after classes were dismissed; he went straight home so that he could be back in the Cullen house's warm and comforting atmosphere.

After greeting his mother with a kiss on the cheek, he went down to his room to retrieve the various papers he'd accidentally left there. He'd meant to take the plans for the awards ceremony with him when he went to the Potters' suite so that he would have something to work on if things got tense, but it had slipped his mind and he ended up leaving them in his bedroom at home. After retrieving the papers, the mortal went to the living room to work on things.

Alice and Edward joined him on the largest of the sofas in the living room shortly after three that afternoon. Alex wasted no time before wrapping his arms around Edward's nearest one and leaning against him, happily enjoying his boyfriend's strong presence.

"How was your weekend?" the vampire questioned.

"Pretty nice, actually," the mortal explained. "No fighting, I learned to play Quidditch, and Cara apologized to me and has started calling me by my name. She confirmed my theory that her problem has been the different between what she always imagined I'd be like and what I actually am like."

"Some definite progress."

"This weekend was one step forward, now let's see if the next one is two steps back or not," the Wizard muttered.

Alice patted his shoulder sympathetically. "You're still planning to use next weekend to ask about the search for you?"

"I didn't want to ask this weekend because it ran the risk of ruining Jonthan's birthday," Alex explained. "Things are as comfortable as they're gonna get; I should just ask and get it over with. The answers to my questions will set the tone for everything that follows."

"How so?" the spiky-haired vampire asked.

"I don't know what happened, but I've gotten enough clues from Skeeter's book and from things that have been said that I should be able to tell if they lie to me. And even if I can't tell based on what I already know, I plan to ask at dinner in front of Charles, Jonathan, and Cara. If Lily and James lie in a blatant way, it'll show on someone's face. Of course, being a mindreader would help." The last was added with a playful kiss on Edward's cheek.

"There are only a handful of weekends left before summer break; the Hogwarts students usually go to school until June, but they've matched our schedule for the year because we're hosting the Tournament. So I have to make a decision about what sort of contact I want with the Potters for the summer pretty soon. I want to keep in touch with my biological brothers and sister; regardless of what Lily and James did or didn't do, I can't attribute it to their kids. The problem is that I don't know how close of contact I want. I have a lot of considerations to take into account to decide that and this conversation should help bring things into focus."

Edward leaned over and kissed the top of his boyfriend's head. "What answer do you want them to give you?"

"I don't know," the green-eyed immortal confessed. "Just the truth, I guess. I don't want to spend the summer with them and there's nothing that they can say that would make me want to. But if they tell me the truth, no matter what it is, I think that I'll feel better about occasional visits and letters and the like. If they lie to me . . . then that's it for me and Lily and James. I'll keep some contact with Charles, Cara, and Jonathan and might even arrange to visit them after I turn seventeen, but that's it. After the end of the school year, I'll wash my hands of Lily and James if they don't tell me the truth."

The next day found Alexander walking towards the central administrative building bright and early. As he made his way across the courtyard, he caught sight of Cirilla Bellcroft sitting on a bench writing in a green-covered book.

"Hey, Cirilla!" Alex called to his maybe-friend.

The platinum blonde girl's head shot up. When she saw that it was Alexander who had called to her, she smiled at him and motioned him over.

"Whatcha doing?" the Wizard asked in a sing-song voice.

Cirilla put the book into her bag. "Not much. Just jotting down a few notes for my next campaign into my diary."

"Planning to run for president again?"

"Yes," the Witch answered. "And before you ask, this time I'm doing it for me. Not to try and live up to my sister or my parents' expectations. There are some things I feel that need to be done to improve the school."

"Look out, world!" Alex cried in a dramatic voice. "Cirilla Bellcroft is a strong woman out to take you by storm! And she doesn't give a damn what anybody thinks!"

The girl laughed musically. "I suppose you'll be running again as well."

"Sorry to disappoint, but I think I'll call it quits after this year."

"Really?"

"I'm tired," the black-haired teen confessed. "This year has just been too much. Too much drama, too much to do. I want my last year here to be nice and relaxing. I want to remember going to Quodpot games and hanging out with my friends, not spending hours in the office everyday after school."

"Rats," Cirilla said as she snapped her fingers in mock defeat. "I've been working on an election platform for weeks so that I can have the pleasure of throttling you."

The Wizard just shrugged. Their conversation was cut off rather abruptly at that point as someone began to shout Alexander's name.

"Alex!" Eric Weathercrest cried as he sprinted from the doors of the central administrative building towards his friend. He spared a brief moment to scowl at Cirilla—he suspected that the Witch's abrupt change in attitude was some sort of ploy—when he arrived before addressing the Student Body President. "Someone broke into the office!"

"What?" Alex and Cirilla asked simultaneously.

The three magic-users raced to the Student Government Office. The room was a complete and utter disaster zone. The door handle had been cursed off and was sitting on the floor in multiple pieces, papers were strewn about, chairs and the filing cabinet had been toppled over, and all of the drawers in Alexander's desk had been opened and emptied onto the floor.

Alex looked at Cirilla. "Please find Headmaster Justinius and Professor Brekenridge."

The Witch left to do as the Wizard requested, leaving Alexander and Eric to sort through the wreckage.

"Who would have wanted to do this?" Eric asked out loud.

"I don't know. Whoever it was, they were searching for something," Alex said as he looked through the papers that had once been in his desk but that now littered the floor.

"Is anything missing?"

"No," Alexander said. "At least, not that I can tell. I'll have to go through everything, one sheet at a time to be certain." He was about to stand up when his eyes caught site of something yellow sticking out from under his overturned chair. His heart skipped a bit when he retrieved the little scrap of cloth.

It was a pocket from a fleece shirt with the Hufflepuff insignia on it. It looked like it had been caught on the metal juncture that connected the armrest to the back of the chair and had been ripped off when the seat was knocked over.

Squatting down behind his desk, Alex could soon hear several footsteps approaching. Professor Brekenridge's high-heeled shoes clicked in a very distant manner whenever she stormed her way through the halls of the school. Upon hearing the sound, Alex pocketed the yellow scrap of fabric.

"Great Merlin's ghost!" Cordelia Brekenridge exclaimed when she looked around the room.

The group of Wizards and Witches wasn't able to put together a solid theory as to why the office had been sacked. Although it looked like the perpetrator was searching for something, nothing appeared to be missing. Without some further evidence, no plausible theory could be formulated.

Of course, there was 'some further evidence.' Alexander just kept hit hidden in his pants' pocket.

The Cullen Wizard ended up spending every spare moment of the rest of the day tying to put the office back together. At times, it seemed like a hopeless cause. But, by the end of the day, the office was in much better shape. He'd need more time to straighten things up and reorganize all of the documents that had been spilled on the floor, but at least things didn't look like an army of angry hippogriffs had invaded.

It wasn't until the Cullen Wizard returned home that he dared to pull the little scrap of cloth out of his pocket and examine at it. It was a perfect match for the Charles's pajamas. Although there were bound to be over a hundred Hufflepuffs with identical pajamas, Alexander just knew somehow that the person who broke into his office had been his biological brother. But why?

"Oh, Charles," he asked the silent walls of the tool shed. "What have you done?"


	27. Chapter 27

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 27: Twenty Six: Being a Parent**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Twenty-Six – Being a Parent**

Alexander spent the remainder of the week fretting about two different things: Charles and the impending confrontation with his biological parents.

He had no solid proof about whether Charles was the person who had ransacked his office. The only evidence found at the scene was the torn pajama pocket with the Hufflepuff insignia on it. Although it matched the pajamas that the redheaded Hufflepuff wore, there was no definitive proof that the scrap of cloth had come from his pajamas specifically. Until Alexander had the opportunity to check Charles's things, all he had to go on was conjecture.

The Cullen boy felt a bit odd about planning to sneak a look at the younger boy's things, but he didn't see another option. He didn't want to accuse Charles without some further evidence and certainly didn't want to go directly to the headmaster or Lily and James, but he couldn't just let the search of his office go unpunished, either. He needed to disprove his suspicions or confirm them and then confront the boy.

Compared to the issues surrounding Charles's possible burglary, the matter of questioning Lily and James about whether they'd bothered to search for him after his disappearance as a small child seemed almost inconsequential. With how long he'd gone without bringing the matter up, it was almost like he'd just become habituated to the perpetual state of curiosity and anxiety.

The green-eyed New Englander managed to push these thoughts from his mind as he sat down with Eric and Marcia for lunch on Friday. He decided, instead, to focus on the topic of the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament.

"You confident about it?" Alexander asked his bleach blond friend.

Eric plastered his best cocky grin on his face. "Of course, man. I get to go in first. It's all about the head start."

"All going in first really means that all of the nasties in the maze will have you to focus on," Marcia pointed out. "Until the other two champions start, you're a one man buffet, baby."

It had been announced on the first of April that the final challenge of the Tournament would be a race through a maze with the Triwizard Cup at the end. It wasn't a surprise; every single Triwizard Tournament that had ever been held concluded with some sort of maze.

"I wonder what sort of maze it will be," Eric wondered aloud. "I heard that the last one was a hedge maze."

"I don't know," Alex answered before jabbing his fork at a strawberry on his tray. "I figured that since the first two events involved the old Watchtowers, that the Third Task would too. But it would be pretty hard to turn the last one into a maze. Even expanding the interior doesn't seem like it would work very well."

"I don't know about the Third Task, but you're about to feel like a rat in a maze," Marcia said before she nodded her head off towards the main doors of the Dining Hall.

Matthieu Moreau, the Beauxbatons Champion and Alexander's would-be suitor, had entered the room. He stood by the door for a moment in order to make eye contact with Alexander. After he did, he began to walk towards the younger Wizard with purpose.

"Oh, Merlin," the Cullen boy muttered. "He just doesn't give up, does he?"

"Doesn't seem like it," his best friend replied, his mouth half-full of a hunk of pizza. He swallowed after barely bothering the chew it. "You want me to distract him with Tournament talk?"

"Please," Alex practically begged.

When Moreau arrived, Eric took the initiative to engage him in mindless chitchat about being prepared for the Third Task. Every time the French student tried to address Alexander specifically, either Eric or Marcia would divert his attention with a new question.

Alexander silently counted down the seconds until the end of the lunch period, desperately hoping that his friends would be able to keep the lavender-eyed boy distracted until they would all have to go to their next class. His two friends proved themselves to be quite skilled at taking turns asking questions so that Matthieu couldn't address Alexander without, yet again, coming across as horribly rude in front of the boy.

It was with immense relief that Alex heard the bell a few minutes later. "Well, we've got to go," the green-eyed Wizard said abruptly as the signal came for them to move to their next class. He didn't waste a second in getting up from the table in order to escape Moreau.

The Beauxbatons student wasn't easily deterred, however, and followed Alexander to the area where he was to dump his tray and then leave it for the House Elves to collect and clean.

"I was wondering, Alexander, if you would be interested in accompanying me during the next field trip. I heard that you have arranged a trip to Washington D.C. I understand that you are interested in politics and so I thought you might be interested in comparing the systems of governments of our respective nations, both magical and Muggle."

Alex desperately searched for an excuse to give the other boy. He couldn't think of one, so opted for the direct approach. "Listen, Matthieu, I'm involved in a serious relationship with someone. With someone that I have every intention of staying with for a very long time. Forever, in fact. If you were interested in being friends and absolutely nothing more, then I would be willing to spend a little time with you. But you and I both know that you're not. So it's best that we just go our separate ways. Find someone else, because I'm not interested. I'm sorry if this is a bit harsh, but I've tried being polite about this and I've been upfront about having a boyfriend."

Matthieu stood totally shocked at Alexander's blunt explanation. He watched as the other teen finished dumping his uneaten lunch into the trash bin and then leave without waiting for the French boy to say anything. Once Alexander was out of sight, Moreau's face darkened into a deep scowl.

That evening, Alexander was waiting patiently on the couch of the Potters' suite for dinner to begin. Either Charles or Jonathan had been in the boys' room at all times, so he'd yet to have the opportunity to check the former's things to see if the little ripped piece of cloth belonged to him or not.

There was a soft tapping on the entrance door that shook Alexander from his plotting. James walked over to the door and, after sending a quick glance to the American Wizard, opened the door just enough so that he could see out but whoever had just knocked couldn't see anything inside beyond James Potter.

"Albus," James Potter greeted in surprise. "We weren't expecting you. Please, come in." The Wizard stepped back to allow the headmaster of Hogwarts into the suite.

Dumbledore looked tired, as if he hadn't slept in a week. His beard wasn't tucked into his belt as it usually was and he had large, dark bags under his eyes. He entered the room and gave a warm smile to Alexander, Jonathan, and Lily, but it looked like it took an amazing amount of effort to do so.

Alex did his best not to openly glare at the man that had asked Cedric Diggory to try and date him for the express purpose of getting him to return with the Potters to England.

Charles and Cara entered the main room from their respective bedrooms almost immediately after the door was opened.

"I wish to have a word with you all regarding a bit of news that I have received from the Ministry of Magic," Headmaster Dumbledore began without any pleasantries.

"What is it?" Lily asked.

"The Minister has seen fit to dispatch a number of his advisors to oversee the final preparations for the Third Task. Officially, they will be here to ensure that no one from the New England Academy or the American Department of Magical Affairs takes any steps to give Mister Weathercrest an unfair advantage. Unofficially, the Minister has dispatched them to ensure that there are no irregularities that will result in bad press for his government. Though the Ministry has been able to convince much of our homeland that Oliver Wood died as the result of either some tragic accident or his own incompetence, Minister Fudge is not confident that he will be able to do so a second time. The advisors will be coming and going over the next month."

"Is that a bad thing?" Cara asked.

"Minister Fudge's advisors include several known and suspected Death Eaters, such as Lucius Malfoy."

"So we need to keep a close eye on Draco, then," Jonathan concluded.

His redheaded sister snorted. "Bugger Malfoy. Our main priority should be making sure no one finds out that Alex is our brother." She looked around the room for a moment before adding. "He . . . He shouldn't stay here on weekends anymore."

"Cara," James breathed in alarm. "I can't believe you'd say that."

"It's too dangerous."

"After everything we've been through since he disappeared, you want him to go away?" her father demanded.

"If it will keep him safe, absolutely." Cara's sudden protectiveness was a welcome surprise for Alexander.

"She makes a really good point," Jonathan said sullenly. "If Malfoy or one of his cronies found out . . ."

"After everything we went through to find him," James said with a shake of his head. "I can't believe what I'm hearing."

Alexander decided that there was no time like the present to start trying to ask what he'd wondering for months. "And what did you do to find me?"

His statement was met with shocked silence; the abrupt change in subject caught everyone off guard. James and Lily looked totally unprepared for that question. Cara's mouth dropped open and just hung there while Charles and Jonathan traded a look of surprise.

"W-What?" Lily managed to stammer out.

"I've been wondering about this for a while. The Skeeter book didn't have any mention of me, so how much of a search could you really have conducted? I mean, if you'd done so much as file a missing person's report, she would have found it. And no saying that Dumbledore covered it up after the fact, because that would have taken a lot more than a single memory charm to manage."

Lily and James both stuttered for a minute before looking to the headmaster for help. When he saw the way the pair deferred to the old Wizard, Alexander's blood began to boil. "Oh, give me a break! Don't look at him! I asked _you_ a question!"

"Alex," James began after a few seconds of hesitation. "We looked for you. We looked everywhere, but we couldn't find a single trace of you."

"So the two of you just went out and looked for me yourselves?"

"We had friends helping, Alex. People that we trusted from the war effort," Lily explained.

"But why didn't you file a missing person's report?" Alexander demanded.

"Because . . . because," the woman tried. Her green eyes darted back to Dumbledore's blue ones.

The answer to Alex's question suddenly became very clear to him. "Because _he_ told you not to, right?"

"I did, in fact, tell your parents not to file a missing person's report," the headmaster confirmed. "The Ministry of Magic was rife with Death Eater infiltrators at the time. Several Aurors and their families were tortured, some were killed, even after Voldemort fell. I believed that it would have been impossible for the Ministry of Magic to assist in looking for you without Death Eater operatives infiltrating the search. If they were able to find you before someone we trusted . . . My fears were the same as they were when I hid any traces of your accidental magic. If you were found, you could have been hurt, either as a means of revenge against your family or as a tool for forcing them to reveal critical information about their fallen master."

Headmaster Dumbledore's explanation hung in the air for several long moments.

"Everything you say makes perfect sense if it is looked at the situation with an ice cold eye," Alex began before turning to look at his biological parents. "But how could you possibly look at the situation that way?"

Neither Lily nor James could answer the question right away.

Alexander looked back at the headmaster. "This is amazing. How is it possible that you have this much control over them?"

"He doesn't," James interrupted. "We trusted his judgment."

"Really?" the vampire-raised boy scoffed. "Because given some of the things I know he's done . . ."

"Like what?" Lily asked sharply.

The green-eyed sixteen-year-old looked straight at the headmaster before answering the Witch. "You asked Cedric Diggory to seduce me."

"What?" the boy's biological mother demanded.

"I asked him to do nothing of the sort," Dumbledore defended. "I encouraged him to act on his already existing feelings for you, nothing more."

"But not for my benefit. Or his, either. You did it because you knew that I fell in love with Cedric, I'd go back to England with the Potters just to be near him. You asked Cedric to pursue me in order to ease your guilt over my disappearance."

Albus Dumbledore's eyes widened marginally at the Alex's statement. "I see that you and Mister Diggory have discussed this matter."

"If you knew he had feelings for me, you should have also been bright enough to figure out that he'd never try to manipulate me on your behalf."

"I believe that that is a gross misrepresentation of what I asked Mister Diggory to do. But, touché, nevertheless," the headmaster said with a weary shake of his head.

"I can't help but wonder what you felt guilty about. Did you feel guilty because your Squib lookout missed it when Petunia got rid of me or was it because you convinced them not to search for me the way any decent parents would?"

"Alex," Jonathan intervened. "They did look for you. All through my childhood, I have memories of Mum running across the street to check out some kid because he looked like she thought you would. I remember her making scenes in public about it and crying loads. They loved you. They still love you."

Alexander looked at the older teen. "How can you possibly think that? I was left at a _Muggle_ hospital. The sane thing, the thing that any loving parent would do would have been to report me missing to the Muggle authorities. That would have had the best shot at finding me and the Death Eaters would have been none the wiser.

"My family, my real family, has killed for me. They have risked their lives to keep me safe and, if I ever went missing from their care, there is nothing they wouldn't do to find me. And that's because they love me. You can't just talk parents into not doing everything they can for their child. Not unless they don't want to do it in the first place."

Before Alexander could continue his argument, a loud slap was heard in the room. The boy turned his head and found Lily standing in front of Dumbledore, her arm still outstretched and his head turned to the side from the force of her assault.

"What have I done?" she asked in despair.

"Lily," James tried, but to no avail.

"My son thinks that I don't love him because I did what you suggested," Lily said in a low voice, her eyes welling up with tears. "I . . . I can't believe what I let you talk me into."

The headmaster turned his head back towards Lily. He licked his lips before trying to speak.

"Don't," the Witch said firmly. "I don't . . . Not a damn word. Just leave."

There was a moment of terrible silence as the headmaster stared at his former pupil. After several seconds, he nodded his head slightly before turning to rush from the room. After the door shut behind him, the only sound in the room was that of the embers in the fireplace crackling every few seconds.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of stagnant silence, the Witch turned to look at Alexander. Her lips pursed and she began to shake her head from side to side very slowly. "There's no excuse. I don't know why I didn't see it before, but there isn't anything I can say to make it right. No answer I can give to your questions that will change the simple fact that your father and I . . . that James and I didn't do what we should have. We know in hindsight that you had a good childhood, but at the time . . . Anything could have happened to you. You could have wound up with anyone and treated terribly. You're right, any decent parents would have moved heaven and earth to find you. But we didn't."

James didn't say a word. He looked down in shame and listened to his wife's words, totally unable to contradict them.

"This," Lily began again as she motioned about the room, "is wrong. My argument with your . . ." she trailed off for moment, looking rather like she was going to throw up. The word she knew she had to say was so very difficult for her that it forced the tears to finally begin leaking from her eyes. "My argument with _your_ _mother_ about legal battles and your family being vampires forced you to agree to these visits. It wasn't right. It was selfish of me.

"I can't claim to be your mother because I've never really acted like mother to you. A few acts of kindness here and there during visits that we forced you into accepting don't make me your mother."

The Witch looked over at her husband. Very slowly, he met her gaze. There was a sudden understanding in their eyes. A silent agreement on a course of action.

"Go home, Alexander Cullen," James said as his eyes began to tear up as well.

"What?" Charles asked.

"It may be the only parental thing we ever to do for you, Alex. It may be the only time in our entire lives that we do for you what any decent parent would do," the bespectacled man explained amidst his sorrow. "We're saying goodbye and letting you go."

Alexander was totally stunned. He watched as Lily crossed the room and joined hands with James.

Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath. A sob shook her entire body when she tried to speak and so it took her several seconds to gain control of her emotions enough to speak. When she did, she spoke in a voice that was barely coherent because of how much it was shaking. "We want you to be safe and happy, and that can't happen here with us. Not with a group of people that you've only known for three months and who live every day in the middle of a war that could easily consume you."

"It's with the people who raised you and who have protected you thus far," James finished for his wife. "So please, go home. We love you and want what's best for you. And this is it."

The Witch and Wizard held onto one another as they cried.

Alexander looked up at Jonathan and Cara and Charles.

"I already told you, I want you safe, little bro," Jonathan said in a very American way. His eyes were watery, but the tears remained unshed. He was barely maintaining control.

"We're just starting out," Cara began, "and I don't want to lose you. But if you stay out of the war, then you'll survive it for sure. And then I'll always have you, even if you're not by my side."

Charles remained totally silent. He wouldn't even look at anyone else in the room.

Alexander stood up on shaky legs and made his way over to the fourteen-year-old. "Charles," he said softly.

"I don't want you to go," the redhead hiccupped. "Why are they making you go?"

"Charles, I," Alexander began, but didn't get the chance to finish. His little biological brother tore out of the room.

The Hufflepuff ran into the boys' bedroom and then into the bathroom. Once there, he slammed the door shut. All Alexander could do was watch him race off.

Jonathan passed by the younger Wizard. For a moment, the Cullen boy thought that he was heading to the bathroom to comfort Charles, but he wasn't. Once he was in the boys' bedroom, he produced his wand and incanted, "_Pack_."

The spell caused Alexander's suitcase to pull itself out from under his bed and all of his things to pack themselves away into it. Once everything was packed up nice and neat, Jonathan picked up the suitcase and Alexander's messenger bag and brought them to the boy. Without a word, he handed them off. Jonathan placed a firm hand on Alex's shoulder and squeezed it once before steering him towards the front door.

Alexander stopped at the door and looked back over his shoulder. Cara, Jonathan, Lily, and James were all standing on the other side of the room. He looked at them and they looked right back. No one said or did anything; no one knew what else to say or do.

Finally, Alex opened the door and left. He silently made his way across campus to the portkey site, trying desperately not to see Charles's distraught face in his mind or to imagine what was happening the Potter suite as he left.

Ms. Lepon was surprised to see him because he hadn't been portkeying home on Friday nights in quite some time, but didn't ask any questions when the boy asked to go home.

Once back in Forks, Alexander slowly walked to the house with his suitcase and messenger bag. He reached the house at the same time Edward's silver Volvo and Emmett's large jeep returned home from school. The vampires quickly hopped out of their cars and went to see the mortal.

"Alex," Edward said gently as he took in the strange expression on his boyfriend's face. "Are you alright?"

Alexander stood in front of Edward, not knowing how to answer the question. "They sent me home," he whispered.

"Come again?"

"They're involved in a war. They said that the only thing decent parents could do in this situation was to let me go home," the sixteen-year-old explained.

Edward reached out and put his hands on Alex's shoulders. "They're letting you stay where you want to stay. This is good, isn't it?"

"Yes," Alexander was able to confirm before choking out a sob. He could feel fat, wet tears begin to slip from his eyes. "But I'm crying. Why am I crying?"

The vampire pulled his mortal into his arms, flush against his chest. It was the only thing he could do to ease the pain that Alexander was suffering from but did not understand.


	28. Chapter 28

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 28: Twenty Seven: Obsession**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Twenty-Seven – Obsession**

"Why do I feel like this?" Alexander asked his immortal.

The sixteen-year-old was resting on his bed next to his boyfriend. The vampire was sprawled out next to him, his arms resting behind his head. When Alexander asked his question, Edward rolled onto his side before reaching up and running his fingers through the curly locks of the Wizard's hair. "Emotions are Jasper's territory."

"But I'm your territory."

The vampire pulled Alexander over and shifted both of their weights so that the Wizard was lying against Edward's chest. "You're conflicted. You're happy about not being obligated to spend time with the Potters anymore, but you're upset that they're hurting. Even if you don't love them as family, you still care for them and don't like to see them hurt. You're sad because they are sad."

"See, you do know emotions." The mortal turned his head to the side and rested it against Edward's chest. He had laid his head against the vampire's chest like this when he was little, amazed at how he couldn't hear a heartbeat. "I think you're right. The way Charles ran off . . . And everybody crying. It just got me upset."

Edward kissed the top of Alexander's head. "It's hard, but they did what was best for you: they let you go."

"I know," the black-haired boy mumbled. "I'll be fine, I just need a little time to get used to the idea of them backing off. I need to think about what to do now."

"Always planning for what comes next," the vampire chuckled. Edward knew that Alexander wouldn't respond; he could feel and hear the mortal's breathing even out as he drifted off to sleep.

Esme, he decided, would just have to deal with him staying with Alexander for the night. There was nothing in the world that could force him to wake or leave his boyfriend.

When Alexander woke up the next morning, he felt much better about the situation. The shock of the previous evening had worn off and now all he could feel was an amazing sense of relief at having a decision made for him. He wouldn't stay with the Potters during the summer. Nor would he be spending any more weekends with him.

The decision had been taken out of his hands, and the sense of relief that he felt at not having to make it himself was extraordinary.

Alexander devoted the weekend to his real family. To relishing the bonds he shared with each and every one of them. And the more time he spent with them, the less he worried about the Potters. He knew they were hurting, but that they would find comfort in the bonds that they shared with one another.

Besides, just because wasn't going to live with them didn't mean he couldn't still be friends with Charles, Cara, and Jonathan. The events of the previous night had simply helped to define their relationship, not destroy it entirely.

By Sunday afternoon, the Cullen Wizard was feeling truly remarkable.

"Homework?" his father questioned as he made his way to join the rest of the family in the living room.

"I've been putting so much off lately to give myself things to do at the Potters . . ." Alexander trailed off for a moment. He shook his head with a smile. "And I haven't done anything yet this weekend, so I have a bunch of work to get done."

"Poor you," Alice said with a smirk. "Maybe you shouldn't have spent three hours playing video games with Emmett last night."

"Nah," the burly vampire grinned. "Video games are essential. All of that love-dovey stuff with Edward was what he could have cut out."

The bronze-haired vampire scowled at his 'older' brother before wrapping an arm around Alexander's shoulders.

"Video games or making out," the mortal weighed the options. "I wonder where my priorities should lie."

"It better be with me," the vampire said before nuzzling his boyfriend's ears.

Alexander put his book down and started to shift himself around so that he would have better access to Edward.

"That wouldn't be doing homework," Esme said with a frown. "Work now, play later."

The Wizard couldn't help but blush a little at his mother's ending statement. He pulled himself back from his boyfriend and reached into his bag, muttering the entire time about how he should have studied downstairs for a bit of privacy. As Alexander searched through his bag, he stumbled upon the box of sweets that Charles had given him the previous weekend.

"What's that?" Edward said as the mortal pulled the box out of his bag.

"Candy," Alex informed him. "Charles gave it to me." He opened the lid and looked at the chocolates inside. "I'd offer you one, but I know how you feel about chocolate. And, well, food in general," he teased before popping one of the candies in his mouth.

The little piece of chocolate had a creamy center with a flavor that Alexander couldn't quite put his finger on. It was something familiar, however.

After swallowing the chocolate, Alex began to feel a little funny.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked, noticing how his boyfriend's face had suddenly become pale and sickly and his expression became distant.

"Matthieu," Alexander muttered serenely.

"What?" the vampire asked.

"I need to go to school. I have to see Matthieu," the mortal said as he suddenly stood up, keeping his bag with him.

"Stop him," Jasper said urgently. "Stop him, now!"

Alexander began to move towards the door of the house, but Edward landed in his path. "Alex, what's happening?"

"I have to school," the boy replied desperately. "I have to get to school and tell Matthieu how I feel about him."

Edward looked like someone had hit in the stomach with a sledgehammer. "What are you saying?"

"I love him," Alexander said with a ridiculous smile. "And I have to go to him and tell him. Please, get out of my way."

The vampire held his ground, far too shocked to do anything. When he made no move to get out of Alex's way, the mortal tried to step around him, only to find Jasper standing in his way. The other vampires in the house were starting to crowd around him as well.

The mortal frowned, "Why are you trying to keep me from going to my love?"

"Alex, you're not well. You're feelings . . . there's something off about them," Jasper said tightly.

"There is nothing wrong with how I feel!" Alex snapped viciously. He drew his wand from his bag and started to point it towards the empath.

Jasper was quick to latch onto Alexander's wrist, squeezing it just tight enough that the sudden pain caused the little piece of wood to slip through his fingers and clatter onto the floor.

"Let me go!" Alexander all but shrieked.

"I can't," Jasper said. "Your feelings aren't you own, Alex. You've been spelled or something."

The blond vampire's words seemed to finally snap Edward out of his stupor. The mindreader rushed at the pair, wrapping his arms around Alexander from behind. He maneuvered Alex's arms so that they were crossing his chest, unable to move.

The mortal kicked and screamed in his struggle to get free. "Let me go, dammit! Let me go!"

"I'm not letting you go," Edward whispered. "I love you and I'm not letting you go."

"But I don't love you! I love Matthieu! How could you possibly think I'd pick you over him!" Alexander shouted as loud as he could while struggling against the vampire's hold.

"I can't affect his emotions enough to get him under control. Someone send a note to Justinius before he hurts himself!" Jasper commanded.

For the next twenty minute, Alexander thrashed about and yelled as Edward did all that he could to try and get him under control. The immortal did his best to tell himself that Alex was under a spell or potion, but it was still painful to hear the words that were coming out of his mouth.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, there was a knock at the door. Esme and Carlisle answered it and found Headmaster Justinius standing there.

"I came as soon as I received you note. You believe that Alexander has been slipped a potion of some kind?" the old Wizard said as he entered. He carried a large, black satchel with him.

"Yes," Carlisle confirmed. "He began to act strangely right after eating a chocolate that he received from Charles Potter. As soon as he ate it, he began to talk about being in love with Matthieu Moreau. I would have sedated him, but I was afraid of a possible interaction between the sedative and whatever he was slipped."

"The Beaxbatons Champion?" the headmaster asked sharply. After receiving confirmation from the vampire, he moved to where Edward was sitting on the couch with Alexander as his captive.

"Headmaster, please!" Alexander begged as he wiggled on the vampire's lap. "Get me out of here! I have to get to Matthieu!"

The older Wizard ignored his pupil entirely and, instead, picked up the box of chocolates. He removed one chocolate and crushed it in his hand before taking a whiff. He frowned deeply. "Amortentia."

"What is that?" Rosalie asked as her eyes moved back and forth between the candy and her littlest brother.

"A very powerful love potion. The most powerful, in fact. It produces an unparalleled sense of obsession and infatuation."

"Can you reverse it?" Alice asked.

The headmaster nodded his head. He brushed the remains of the chocolate onto the top of the coffee table and then sat his bag on the floor. He rummaged through the satchel for a moment before producing several different bottles, each with a different colored liquid inside. He conjured a glass and then began to mix ingredients into it, stirring the concoction every now and then with his wand. When he was finished, he presented the glass to Alexander.

"Drink this, please."

The sixteen-year-old clenched his jaw and looked at the old man defiantly.

"Drink this and I will take you to Matthieu straight away," the old Wizard assured the boy.

Alexander gave his headmaster a warm smile before opening his mouth so that the mixture could be poured down his throat. The process was messy and Alex's light blue shirt was stained by the antidote, but it did the trick. After the first gulp, the boy began to regain his color.

After Alex drained the glass, he began to blink rapidly, as though he was attempting to get something out of his eye. His mind was cloudy and he couldn't quite figure out what had happened to him. He remembered eating the chocolates and then . . . he just felt awful. "I think I'm going to be sick," he murmured.

"Alex?" Edward questioned softly in his ear. The mortal just slumped against his side.

The boy tried to replay what had happened to him over and over in his mind, but everything was just too fuzzy. He couldn't make any sense of what happened. He tried to put the pieces together, but they just wouldn't fit. Then, he caught a whiff of the candies on the table. Memory loss, the familiar scent of the chocolates, the way everyone was hovering over him . . . Horror dawned on his face as he reached a conclusion about what had happened to him. It was only a theory, but it fit in a terrible way. "I'm sorry," the mortal said as quickly as he realized what he'd consumed. "I'm so sorry. Whatever I said, I didn't mean it. I didn't mean any of it!"

Certain that the boy had returned to his senses, the vampire released his hold on Alexander's arms. As soon as he did, the green-eyed boy spun around on his lap and hugged his tightly around the neck before continuing his apologies; the mortal didn't know what he'd done for sure, but he had an awful suspicion. The vampire could feel moisture on his neck and smell salty water, and so knew that Alexander had begun to cry. He returned the hug and began to whisper reassurances to his boyfriend.

The rest of the room silently watched as Alex promised Edward that he loved him and only him and that whatever he'd said was done under the influence of the potion. The immortal, in return, assured Alexander that he knew all that and that nothing had changed between them.

After several minutes, the mortal pulled back from his boyfriend. His face was bright red in frustration and anger over the situation and his eyes were puffy.

"Alexander," the headmaster interrupted the moment. "I need you to tell me everything you know about the chocolates."

The New England student moved himself around so that he was facing his headmaster but still on Edward's lap. "Charles gave them to me last weekend. He said that they were a thank you present. For helping him out in the fight last semester and for donating my blood. The memory loss, the way I had to be restrained, and the . . . enticing smell . . . There was something in the candy. Amortentia, right?"

"I'm afraid so," the old Wizard confirmed. "After he gave them to you, did anyone else have access to them?"

"No," Alex shook his head. "They've been in my bag the whole time. And I take it everywhere with me."

"Why would Charles give Alex candy laced with a potion intended to make him fall in love with this Matthieu person?" Esme wondered aloud as she placed a gentle and on Alexander's shoulder.

"Not love," the headmaster said darkly. "As I said earlier, Amortentia results in obsession and infatuation. Love isn't something that can be brewed. This potion . . . it something terrible. Because of its typical usage, giving it to a person without their consent is highly illegal."

"'Typical usage'?" Rosalie questioned slowly, fearing the what that phrase meant.

The headmaster was very hesitant when he began to speak once more. "The potion is keyed to instill infatuation of a specific individual. Once consumed, the victim becomes obsessed with making that person happy and will do _anything_ to please him or her. It was widely used for quite some time to force unwilling participants of arranged marriages into consummating the relationships and produce heirs."

Edward's arms tightened around Alexander as he and every other vampire in the room growled menacingly at no one in particular. Alexander, for his part, had to swallow the bile building up in the back of throat.

Esme and Carlisle sat down on the couch next to where Edward was holding on to Alexander protectively.

"Are we certain Matthieu Moreau is involved?" Jasper asked. "It seems likely, of course, but there seems to be six different explanations we must consider. One: He's involved and somehow convinced Charles to pass the chocolates along. Two: He's involved and spiked the chocolates without Charles knowing. Three: He's involved and bewitched or otherwise manipulated Charles into helping. Four: He's not involved and this was all Charles's doing. Five: He's not involved and someone else manipulated or bewitched Charles. Six: He's not involved and Charles had no idea that the candy was laced with the potion."

Alexander sighed in irritation. "I'm so stupid."

"What?" Edward asked gently.

"Matthieu was involved, I know it," he said with a shake of his head. "The smell and the flavor of the chocolate were familiar, but I couldn't place it at first. But now I can. It smelled like warm honey and lilac to me."

"How is that important?" Emmett asked in confusion.

"Amortentia smells differently to different people," the Alex explained. "It smells like what people find most attractive."

"To Alexander, it smells like Edward," Alice said with a small smile. "And to me," she said as he sniffed the air, "it smells like Jasper."

"Precisely," Justinius said before looking at Alexander. "I'm assuming, then, that you've smelled Amortentia before? In Matthieu's presence."

"Yes," Alex confirmed. "He tried to give me some hot cocoa back during the trip to New York. The cocoa smelled the same as those chocolates do now."

"Then he is involved," the headmaster said before looking down at the chocolates. "Next, we must determine to what extent Charles is involved. Has be been acting strangely as of late? Out of character, perhaps?"

"Yes," the younger mortal answered. "He was very irritable the day that he gave me the chocolates. He was cursing during our game of Quidditch. And then he broke into my office. Merlin, how did I not see this? It was right in front of my face!"

"Charles Potter broke into you office? How do you know this? And why did you not tell me sooner?"

"I'm not completely positive, but I'm pretty sure it was him. I found a scrap of cloth in the room from a pair of Hufflepuff pajamas. I'd seen him wearing them a couple nights before the break-in. I know that it's not definitive, but my gut just told me that it was Charles that broke in. I hid the evidence, hoping to confront him about it myself, but I never got the chance."

"I see," Justinius said before stroking his short beard. "It seems to be quite possible that Charles has been bewitched."

Alexander felt a little guilty at the sensation of relief that washed over him at that conclusion. He shouldn't be pleased that someone had managed to place a curse on the redhead, but it was a huge relief to think that Charles hadn't knowingly slipped him the love potion.

"What happens now?" Esme asked. "Will Matthieu be arrested?"

The headmaster frowned. "That is one possibility."

"I don't like where this is going," Rosalie said through gritted teeth.

"If accused, Matthieu will deny any involvement in the affair. Most compulsion charms and curses are impossible to detect. Matthieu will claim that Charles acted alone and will proclaim his innocence."

"He doesn't get away with this," Emmett said darkly. "He doesn't get to walk away from this. He goes to jail or he goes back to France in a box."

"I agree," Headmaster Justinius said quickly. "I wish to see him pay for his crime. But we must acknowledge the realities of the situation. Matthieu Moreau is the Beauxbatons Champion and will, therefore, have the backing of the French Ministry. They will intervene to protect him from incriminating questions. Barring a confession, I believe that they will be able to get him off."

"But the potion was keyed for him!" Rosalie shouted in outrage.

"And it would not be the first time that someone slipped a love potion to a victim that was designed around someone else. There have been cases where parents have used the potion to pick a husband or wife for their child that their child was not attracted to but who would be an economically advantageous match. Yes, every person with more than two working brain cells will know that Matthieu is involved. But we're talking about courts and international politics, not common sense."

Alice frowned. "You are suggesting that we get him to confess," she said as her eyes lingered on her little brother.

"No," Edward said firmly.

"What?" Alexander asked.

"He wants to use you as bait. Pretend like you weren't drugged and then put Matthieu in a situation where he will try it again," the vampire explained.

"I'll do it," Alex agreed.

"You can't be serious," Esme said in shock.

"I am completely serious. I want that scumbag to pay for this," the mortal boy said fiercely. "If Charles has been bewitched, then I won't let Matthieu blame him for it. Even if the truth eventually comes out, an accusation like that could ruin his life for months. Maybe forever. Rita Skeeter or someone like her will a write a book about it because he's a Potter and there will always be some people that will believe it."

Esme was about to protest again, but Carlisle put his arms around her. The vampire patriarch looked up at the headmaster. "You'll make sure that Alexander isn't put in real danger, even for a moment." It wasn't a question.

An argument soon broke out as everyone debated the best way to lure Matthieu into a trap without Alexander being put into danger. It was all a bit much for Alex to take in, so he thanked the headmaster for his help and then quietly excused himself and Edward from the discussion.

He led the vampire down the stairs to his bedroom, shutting the door as they went. Edward sent him a questioning look, but didn't ask.

When they reached Alex's bed, the boy latched onto Edward and began to kiss him desperately. The vampire was happy to comply with the mortal's demanding lips. At first, anyway. As the pair stood their, he felt Alexander's hands slip down his body to his belt and begin to unbuckle it.

"Alex," Edward said in surprise as he broke the kiss. He looked at the wild, desperate expression on the mortal's face. His cold hands took hold of Alex's, forcing the Wizard to stop his attempts to remove the belt.

"Please, Edward," Alexander whispered.

The immortal's heart broke at the terrible expression on his love's face. "No," he said firmly. He pulled Alexander's hands up and kissed the knuckles several times. "Not like this. Our first time making love won't be because of you being frightened about what someone else has attempted to do to you. It will be on our timetable; when we're ready."

The black-haired boy exhaled slowly. "I'm screwing everything up today, aren't I?"

Edward answered by placing a gentle, lingering kiss on the mortal's pink lips. He then sat on the bed with his boyfriend, quietly waiting for the meeting upstairs to conclude.


	29. Chapter 29

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 29: Twenty Eight: A Conspiracy of How Many?**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Twenty-Eight – A Conspiracy of How Many?**

Alexander sought out Cedric Diggory first thing on Monday morning. He was a little bit nervous about tracking the Auror-in-training down. In the heat of the moment, the New Englander had revealed to Headmaster Dumbledore that he knew that Cedric had been asked to romance him. The Cullen boy was afraid of what the consequences of revealing that information had been for Diggory.

Finding the Hufflepuff was a relatively easy task; all Alex had to do was wait at the midpoint between the Hogwarts Express and the Dining Hall. He was fortunate that Cedric came into view before he had to encounter any of the Potters.

"Morning," the black-haired youth greeted the trainee.

Cedric warmly smiled at Alexander. "Good morning to you, too."

"You're talking to me?" the New Englander asked in surprise.

"You thought I wouldn't be for some reason?"

"Well, yeah," Alex admitted. "I kinda let some details slip when I was arguing with Dumbledore-"

"That alerted him to the fact that I told you about what he asked me to do," Cedric finished. "I already know."

The younger Wizard watched the older one's face very carefully for several seconds. "Didn't I get you into trouble?"

"No," the former Hufflepuff said with careless smile. "The only two things that the headmaster said to me about the situation after he talked to you were that it was the right thing of me to do to tell you and that he was sorry for ever asking me to do it."

"He . . . apologized?"

"He did," Cedric confirmed. "It was weird. I don't think I've ever seen the old man apologize to anyone for anything. Except for some very generic 'I'm sorry to have to ask you to do this' platitudes."

"Does that mean it's safe for me to ask you a really big favor?"

"Ask away," the Hufflepuff laughed.

"I need you to help me set a trap for Matthieu Moreau." When Alexander saw Cedric's face take on a confused and somewhat alarmed expression, he was quick to explain the situation. "I think that he bewitched Charles into slipping me candy laced with Amortentia. At lunch today, I'm going to set it up so that he has the opportunity to slip some to me again. I need you to create a distraction so that I can get rid of the potion so that, when I start fawning over him, he thinks I've taken it even though I haven't."

Cedric's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why make him think you've taken it? Why not have him arrested as soon as he tries to slip the potion to you? You are aware that even possessing it for anything other than academic purposes is illegal, right?"

"Because Charles broke into my office, and I believe that it was because he was cursed. I want to know why," Alexander said. "There is something that I'm missing in all of this. Some clue that will make everything in this situation make sense. If he just wanted me, then why did he send Charles into my office? There's an ulterior motive here. I'm thinking he doesn't even really want me, he just wants something I can give him."

"Ignoring the dirty innuendo . . . you're going to try an feign being under the most powerful love potion ever made and interrogate a very talented Wizard who evidently has no qualms about trying to drug you?"

"I don't like any part of this situation," the younger boy said with a frustrated shake of his head. "I actually ate one of the candies he sent to me through Charles and spouted off all of this ridiculous nonsense about being in love with Moreau _to my boyfriend_. I was all prepared to run off and jump in the sack with the bastard before I was given the antidote. I want nothing more than to have him tossed in some dark, dank hole right this second. But Headmaster Justinius wants to know what he was having Charles look for in my office and thinks it would be best to try and interrogate Moreau on the sly. And I agree."

Cedric was still frowning. "So you're just going to leave Charles bewitched?"

"Only for a few more hours. Like I said, I'm not happy with any of this. But Moreau will try and leverage Charles's freedom from whatever spell he's under against us when he is caught. We need as much leverage as possible to use right back against him. Just catching him with the Amortentia may not be enough. The more information we can get, the better position we'll be in."

After convincing a very reluctant Cedric to help out, he set about recruiting Eric and Marcia. Then, all Alexander could do was wait for lunch.

He made sure he was the first to enter the Dining Hall and, after collecting his lunch, quickly took a seat near the exterior doors. As he sat waiting for the other Wizard to arrive, Alexander looked around the room to make sure everyone who was in on the plan was in place. Eric and Marcia were sitting several tables away from him, ready to jump into action if things got out of hand. Professor Brekenridge and Headmaster Justinius, likewise, were keeping their subtle eyes on the boy. Last but not least, Cedric Diggory was watching things from the end of the lunch line, pretending to be doing something official as part of his Auror-in-training duties.

Alex noticed when Matthieu entered the Dining Hall by the way all of his watchers tensed. At that moment, he'd have given anything in the world to have Edward there by his side.

"Matthieu," Alex said when the French boy walked by.

"Yes?" the other boy greeted tightly.

"I, uh, want to apologize for the way I spoke to you the other day. I wasn't very kind to you. I was having a bad day and you just caught me at a bad moment is all," Alex lied through his teeth. He was borrowing heavily from his apology to Charles several months earlier. "Would you care to join me for lunch?" he asked, motioning to the chair to his immediate right.

The Beauxbatons Champion smiled confidently at Alexander. "I will join you in a moment," he said before departing. He returned a matter of minutes later with his own lunch tray. "Not that I'm displeased to be sitting with you, but why the change of heart?" he asked.

"Yes, Alex, why the change of heart?" a new voice asked.

Alexander was surprised to find Cirilla standing next to him with her lunch tray. She had a tense smile on her face.

"I just decided that it wasn't fair of me not to give you a fair chance is all," the younger Wizard answered Moreau, all but ignoring Cirilla as she took the chair to Alexander's left.

"Trouble in paradise?" the Witch asked as she seated herself.

"None of your business," Alex snapped. He took a moment to reel his irritation in. He knew that Cirilla could ruin everything just by being present at a critical moment. Fortunately, he had a quick and easy way to get rid of her that would play into his plan quite nicely. The Cullen Wizard reached for his glass of juice and, as he was lifting it, 'accidentally' allowed it to slip through his fingers and splash all over his frenemy.

"Alex!" the platinum blonde cried out as she shot up from her chair.

"I'm so sorry!" Alexander tried to act like the horribly embarrassed klutz he needed to appear to be. He did his best to imitate Neville Longbottom's nervous expression from when the other boy had been knocked into Alexander at lunch during the New York trip.

The Witch looked at the Student Body President furiously before drawing her wand and banishing the juice. "It's fine," he muttered.

Matthieu was distracted by the Witch, so Alexander took the opportunity to shoot a glance over his shoulder to Professor Brekenridge. She just looked back at him, not understanding what he wanted from, so he nodded his head in Cirilla's direction and widened in his eyes in an attempt to convey his message. Cordelia's eyes strayed to the girl for moment before she caught on.

"Miss Bellcroft!" the Charms professor cried as she rapidly approached the table. "You know better than to use magic in the Dining Hall."

"But I had juice all over my dress!" the younger Witch exclaimed.

Alexander made a token effort to help Cirilla out. "It was all my fault."

"It was an accident," Matthieu added quickly. "You can't blame yourself."

"Zero tolerance means _zero_ tolerance, young lady. I will see you in my office immediately," the deputy headmistress said with a note of finality before physically pulling Cirilla away from the table and towards the doors that led into the central administrative building proper.

There was a zero tolerance policy regarding the use of magic in the Dining Hall, but Professor Brekenridge would never do anything more than send a student a minro glare for banishing some spilled juice. The one and only reason she was reacting to Cirilla's spellwork was because Alexander needed the Witch out of his way.

"I'm so clumsy," Alex laughed nervously once he was alone with Matthieu. "I better go get something else to drink."

Before the black-haired boy could get out of his seat, the French boy was standing upright. "I'll get it for you. Please, remain seated."

Matthieu Moreau left for a second time. Alex forced himself to not look around the room at his compatriots this time for fear of doing something to give away the fact that this was a sting operation. As soon as the other boy was out of sight, the Cullen Wizard reached down into his bag and retrieved his wand, keeping it in his left hand under the table.

The brown-haired seventeen-year-old returned with a new glass of juice and a steaming cup of what appeared to be cocoa about a minute after he left. The moment the taller boy sat the steaming cup down with a smile, Alexander knew that he'd done what was expected of him; Alex Cullen could smell honey and lilac from the mug, meaning that the drink had almost assuredly been spiked with Amortentia.

"What's this?" Alex asked his companion.

"You never got a chance to drink your cocoa in New York."

"But where did you get cocoa; they don't serve it here at lunch."

The Beauxbatons Champion gave Alexander another confident smile. "I've made friends with the House Elves who work in your kitchens."

"Very nice," the green-eyed boy complimented before bringing the mug to his lips.

On cue, Cedric pretended to trip and knocked over the two large trash bins that were positioned by the end of the lunch line. The laughing, applause, and other commotion that resulted from the spectacle drew the attention of everyone in the room, including Alexander's lunch date. Once Matthieu's attention was diverted, Alexander silently banished half of the cocoa from his mug with the wand he was holding under the table. He then put the mug down and adopted the spaciest look he could muster.

He hoped that his already pale skin and acting skills would hide the fact that he hadn't succumb to all of the physical symptoms of Amortentia.

When Moreau turned back, he found the cup half-drained of all of the cocoa and Alexander staring off in the distance. "Alex?" he questioned carefully, only a littlest bit of excitement leaking into his voice.

Alexander turned his head to look at Matthieu. He gave him an appraising look before he spoke. "I just noticed how incredible your eyes are."

The French boy smiled triumphantly. "You like my eyes?" he asked as he inched closer to Alexander.

"I love them. I love everything about you," Alex simpered. It turned his stomach to say such things, but it wasn't nearly as bad as when Matthieu reached under the table and rested a hand on his leg. That action almost caused the American Wizard to begin hexing. Or dry heaving.

"I'm pleased to hear you say that," Moreau told his supposedly enthralled companion. "And you want me to be pleased, don't you?"

"I will do anything to please you."

"Wonderful," he leaned in close to Alexander's ear and slowly slid his hand up the other boy's thigh. "I want you to bring the plans for the awards ceremony to my room tonight after dinner. Make sure that the seating arrangement for the VIP box is there. After you've given me the plans, I will allow you to please me as much as you'd like. And I will then please you in return."

Alexander was positive he'd be sick if this had to continue playing a love-sick fool to the teen that had tried, on multiple occasions, to strip him of his free will. He was about to signal Headmaster Justinius that he had learned what he needed to learn—that the item in his office that Charles was sent to retrieve was the plans for the awards ceremony—when he made an awful realization.

With his head turned so that Matthieu could whisper in his ear, he had a good view of Marcia and Eric. He mouthed the word 'help' to them.

Without delay, Eric stood up and crossed the room, forcibly pulling Alexander out of the chair.

"What are you doing?" Matthieu demanded angrily.

"Sorry buddy, but Alex and I have things to discuss," Eric said swiftly before dragging Alexander away.

The youngest of the three Wizards made a pathetic attempt to escape Eric's grasp and return to Matthieu, but it was all for show. He didn't have to try for too long, though, because the French boy gave him permission to leave.

"Please, join your friend, Alexander. I will see you later, after all." The last was said forcefully, as if he was commanded Alex.

The entire thing was nauseating to the green-eyed boy.

Once Alexander was out of the Dining Hall and into the administrative building, he leaned heavily against the nearest wall.

"What happened?" Eric asked urgently. "Why did you call for help?"

"He let me know what he wanted Charles to do almost immediately," Alex said quickly. "I have to speak to the headmaster right away."

A few minutes later, Alexander was standing with Marcia and Eric across from Headmaster Justinius and Professor Brekenridge, who had made short work of disciplining Cirilla. Cedric Diggory was also present, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Matthieu isn't working alone," the Cullen boy explained without preamble was everyone was in the room.

"Are you certain?" the headmaster asked at the same time that his deputy asked, "What did he say?"

"Matthieu wants the seating arrangement for the VIP box of the awards ceremony," Alex explained. "That's what he wanted Charles to steal from my office, I'm sure of it. I left the plans at home over the weekend and didn't bring them back to school until Tuesday morning. Charles searched my office on Monday night, so there were no plans to find."

"How does that prove he's working with someone else?" the blond Wizard asked.

"The awards ceremony is being held immediately after the end of the Third Task. To save time and space, the ceremony is being held right in front of the stands that the audience will be in for the Task," Brekenridge informed the New England Champion.

"In other words, the VIPs will be in the same spot for the Task and the awards ceremony. Matthieu would have no use for the searing arrangement himself because he'll be in the maze during the Task and out in front of the audience with the other two Champions during the ceremony," Cedric completed the thought. "With the number of times that the stands will be checked before the VIPs arrive, advanced knowledge of who is sitting where would be useless to him unless there is someone else that he's planning to pass it on to."

"Could it be Charles?" Marcia asked. "I mean, if he's going to do something to someone in the VIP box and he has bewitched Charles, then couldn't he just make Charles do the deed for him? He needs the plans in advance so that he knows exactly what to order Charles Potter to do."

"I hadn't thought of that," Alexander confessed.

"It is a possibility," the headmaster conceded. "But I am inclined to agree that Mister Moreau almost definitely has another accomplice. There are limits on these sorts of enchantments. Charles Potter is fourteen and far too inexperienced to be able to do anything to the VIP box on his own with the amount of security that will be there. Unless the plan is that he make a failed attempt, then there almost assuredly must be another Wizard involved."

There was a long pause before Cedric asked a new question. "What could he have planned?"

"I don't know," the green-eyed Wizard responded. "Secretary Eda, the Ministers for Magic of France and Britain, dozens of other high-ranking officials from all three nations, visiting dignitaries. It could be an assassination or kidnapping plot against any one of them."

"Or all of them," Professor Brekenridge added darkly.

"What do we do now?" Eric asked.

"I will inform Secretary Eda and allow the Division of Magical Law Enforcement to take things from here," Headmaster Justinius replied. "I have allowed you all to become too involved in this as it is."

"But you'll keep us informed of what the Secretary decides, right?"

"Of course," the old Wizard agreed. "The four of you will remain here with Professor Brekenridge while I see to the Secretary. Your testimony may be needed very soon."

"I have duties to perform," Cedric protested.

"I will see to it that your superior is made aware of the fact that you are acting on my orders, Mister Diggory. I have been given the authority to command you in matters of school security, after all."

"Yes, sir," the Auror-in-training replied.

It was three long, boring hours later that the headmaster returned. But, he did not return alone. The office was soon crowded with a contingent of crimson-robed Aurors, Secretary Eda, and her elderly aid decamps.

Alexander took a moment to examine the Secretary. Her hair had a great deal more grey to it and her face was more worn than the last time he'd seen her at the start of the fall semester. The strains of governing were causing her to show signs of premature aging, it seemed.

"Mister Cullen," Secretary Eda began once she was settled behind the headmaster's desk. "As nice of a boy as you seem, I'm beginning to associate your name with a particularly sharp brand of migraine."

"Not my fault," Alexander flippantly replied. His casual response actually caused the Witch to crack a momentary smile.

"I would like to start off by making sure I adequately understand the situation. The Beauxbatons Champion has been attempting to acquire the plans for the awards ceremony of the Triwizard Tournament. Specifically, he has shown an interest in acquiring the seating chart for the top box. In his attempts to acquire the plans, he has most likely bewitched a Hogwarts student and made several attempts to drug a New England Academy student, one of which was semi-successful in that the student was drugged but was given the antidote prior to doing anything damaging. Based on the fact that the Beauxbatons Champion will be indisposed during both the Task and the subsequent ceremony, it is the belief of everyone in this room that he has another accomplice. Charles Potter is not believed to be this sole accomplice, willing or otherwise, because he isn't skilled enough to do any real harm to anyone in the VIP box, even if he is under the Imperius Curse. Is this a correct summary?"

There were murmurs of agreement around the room. Alexander was surprised to find that even the red-robed Aurors voiced their agreement rather than staying silent. He therefore assumed that they weren't regular Aurors but ranking members of the Division of Magical Law Enforcement who were present to give input and advice to the Secretary.

"Remind me when this is all over to have Professor Reynolds tarred and feathered for suggesting this Tournament," Secretary Eda said to her assistant as she began to rub small circles on her temples. Though it was clearly a joke, the assistant dutifully recorded the request in his notes. "As I see it, I have two options. The first is that we can arrest Misters Moreau immediately for the Amortentia debacle and take Mister Potter into protective custody. Once in custody, Mister Moreau may give up his accomplice and release Charles Potter from whatever spell he may be under. That, of course, assumed that Charles Potter is under a spell and not participating of his own volition."

"And the second option, ma'am?" Professor Brekenridge questioned.

"Let this play out."

"What?" Alexander demanded sharply. "I think I must have misheard you, because for a moment there I was pretty sure you were suggesting that we leave Charles under the influence of a dark curse for the next month."

"That is precisely what I'm suggesting, Mister Cullen," the Secretary replied in an all-business tone.

"Absolutely not!" Alex shouted. It was clear from the reactions of everyone in the room that shouting was not something one did to the Secretary of Magical Affairs. "It's unconscionable," he pressed anyway.

"What if Charles Potter really is under the Imperius Curse?" Secretary Eda asked the boy.

"Then we force Moreau to let him go."

"Really? You think it is just that simple. You're a bright boy, Mister Cullen, you should have realized by now that there is a very good chance that Mister Moreau is not the mastermind behind all of this. He may not be the one who cast the curse on Charles Potter. Merlin, for all we know, Moreau is under the influence of the curse as well. If he isn't the one that cast the curse and we can't identify and catch the real caster, then Charles Potter may be in our custody for a very, very long time."

The Secretary's words reminded Alexander of the situation involving Ginny Weasley. She was committed because the Ministry of Magic couldn't be sure that she was free from the effects of the dark artifact that had manipulated her. Charles could end up the same way: expelled from school and under a permanent cloud of suspicion.

"Can't you just force Moreau to drink truth serum?" Alexander asked desperately.

"The French Ministry will never allow it," Professor Brekenridge answered. "The moment he's taken into custody, he will lawyer up. The Aurors won't be able to do any sort of real interrogation of him. If he is given the serum on the sly, then nothing he says can be admitted against him in court and there stands a very good chance that he will be acquitted as a result."

"And even the truth serum idea, if it was workable, relies on the assumption that Mister Moreau is the one that cast the curse on Charles or, if he isn't, that he knows who cast the curse on him. There are many people in the world who are subjected the curse while asleep or their back is turned. Some casters of the Imperius Curse even use precise memory charms so that their victims only remember their orders, not who gave them," the headmaster added miserably. "If Mister Moreau didn't cast the curse and doesn't know who did, then arresting him may be meaningless in terms of helping Charles Potter.

"But . . . but there has to be some other way than to just let this all play out. There has to be something we can do for Charles." Alexander was practically pleading with Secretary Eda at this point.

"If he is under the Imperius Curse, then he must fight it off himself or we must neutralize the caster. We don't know who the caster is for certain. The only way we can be positive that we have the caster is if we take out Moreau and all of his allies in one swoop when they make their move. But we will do what we can to protect the boy." The head of the Department of Magical Affairs looked over at the headmaster. "Is there anyone near the boy that you can trust to watch out for him?"

The old Wizard stroked his short beard. "I am not sure, Madam Secretary. Neither of his siblings is in the same house as him at Hogwarts. We could speak to Dumbledore; have his head of house watch out for him."

The Secretary considered it for a moment. "We will tell Dumbledore. But this information will be tightly controlled. We will force him to sign a binding magical agreement to not tell anyone without authorization. You will _all_ be subjected to the same agreements so that you cannot tell anyone about this situation who does not already know about it," she said, casting a glance to Alexander. "And we will explain the situation to the boy's parents as well."

"And Jonathan and Cara Potter?" Alexander questioned.

"Too dangerous," one of the Aurors spoke up for the first time. His face was obscured by the hood of his cloak, but he had a very deep voice. "If one of the Potter children has been compromised, there is a high risk that they all have been."

"So have them sign the same agreement. If you word it correctly, it won't matter if they're compromised because they won't be able to tell whoever put the curse on them about it," Alexander snapped.

Alex knew that any argument about Cara and Jonathan based on their utility would be bunk. They hadn't noticed the changes in Charles's attitude thus far. Or, if they had, they hadn't brought it up to Alexander's knowledge. His argument for including the pair in the secret was one of decency. Jonathan and Cara deserved to know what was happening to Charles.

"We'll consider it," the Secretary conceded.

"But-"

"I said that we will consider it," Eda snapped. "The fact of the matter is, Mister Cullen, that I have included you in this discussion thus far as a courtesy. You would do well to remember that."

Alexander clenched his jaw and said nothing further. He'd made the argument; that was all he could for the moment.

The Secretary steepled her fingers on the old mahogany desk. "For the time being, we will play along. Mister Cullen will send a copy of the current plans for the awards ceremony ahead to Matthieu by owl post," she looked directly at the teen. "You will include a note about how you must stop by the nurse's office for a headache remedy but will join him shortly. After that, you will break off all contact with him." The Witch then turned her attention to Eric and Marcia. "You two, in the meantime, will spread a rumor."

"A rumor?" Marcia asked suspiciously.

"Yes. A rumor saying that Mister Cullen is being sent home for a few days to recover from a terrible allergic reaction to a headache relieving potion he took in the nurse's office and that the spells and potions used to remove the headache relieving potion from his system have left him confused. Tell them that, as an unexpected side effect of the treatment, he can't remember anything since before he first got the headache during lunch. We can't have Mister Cullen pretending to be under the influence of Amortentia for the next month for obvious reasons, but we also can't have Mister Moreau believing that Alexander knows he asked for the plans.

"Amortentia is notorious for its victims losing all memory of their actions while under its thrall, so Mister Moreau should conclude that the potion was removed from Mister Cullen's as part of the general cleansing treatments used to treat allergic reactions to potions and that he no longer remembers sending the plans to him. This will allow Mister Cullen go about his normal, day-to-day business and will, in theory, not cause Mister Moreau to change his plans."

"That . . . makes sense," Alexander agreed tentatively.

Further discussion of what to do about the situation was tabled until several binding magical contracts could be hastily drawn up by Secretary Eda's assistant. Shortly after signing the agreements not to discuss the matters with those who were not already aware of them, Eric and Marcia returned to classes while their vampire-raised friend was escorted by an Auror to his office to copy the plans, write a note to Matthieu, and then send them both to the Beauxbatons champion by owl post. Once that was completed, he was taken to the portkey site with instructions not to return to class until mid-week at the soonest in order to play up the 'allergic reaction' cover story.

When Alexander arrived home, he went into his family's house and waited for everyone to return home. As he waited, he quietly stewed over the day's events and began to make plans of his own.

When Edward and his siblings returned home, the green-eyed mortal was quick to recount the events of the day to them.

"So, what do you think the Secretary's plan is for the awards ceremony?" Edward asked once his boyfriend had finished his explanation.

"I don't know," Alexander began, "but I have my own plan."


	30. Chapter 30

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 30: Twenty Nine: Tournament's End**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Twenty-Nine – Tournament's End**

On the morning of the first of May, Alexander portkeyed to the New England Academy of Magic. When he arrived, Ms. Lepon looked at the Wizard and the large trunk he brought with him quizzically.

Alex opted to give her an explanation before she asked for one. "With exams coming up, I've decided to move into the dorms for the remainder of the term. You know, save time on the commute." He hated lying to authority figures and he was certain that his face would give him away, but it didn't.

The squat gatekeeper nodded in understanding before motioning for Alexander to proceed to the campus and not obstruct the way any longer.

The Cullen Wizard silently levitated the trunk and made his way towards the central administrative building. While walking, he paid close attention to his surroundings as he tried to gauge what precautions that the Department of Magical Affairs had taken for the event.

The answer appeared to be 'none.'

There were a few Aurors from the three participating nations here and there, but not any more than had attended the First and Second Tasks. There appeared to be no restrictions on where the hundreds of attendees could travel on campus; people were milling about everywhere, some discussing the impending event with great excitement, some discussing the latest bit of international political gossip, and still others making wagers about the outcome.

The mortal boy knew that there had to be some security that he couldn't see. Some strategy put into place that would safeguard the VIPs and Charles Potter from disaster. Unfortunately, he had absolutely no idea what they were.

For the past month, Alexander had been doing his best to surreptitiously prepare to counter whatever was bound to occur during the Third Task and subsequent awards ceremony. Department officials had forced Alexander to sign a binding magical contract agreeing not to speak of the situation to anyone who didn't already know about it. Fortunately, this didn't limit Alex's options all that much. Eric, Marcia, Professor Brekenridge, Cedric Diggory, and Headmaster Justinius were all in on the secret. And, though the Department of Magical Affairs didn't know it, so were all of the members of the Cullen family. The contract prevented Alexander from _speaking_ about the situation, so all he had to do to let his family in on the details that they weren't already aware of was to spend a little time thinking about the details near Edward without his mind protected by Occlumency.

As a result, the sixteen-year-old was able to speak freely with most, but not all, of the people he wanted to.

Who Alexander really wanted to discuss the situation with were Cara and Jonathan Potter. He had no idea if they'd been let in on their little brother's situation; Secretary Eda hadn't made a decision by the time he was excluded from the Department's planning for the Third Task. Alex didn't want to risk the consequences of violating a binding magical contract by talking to them directly without knowing for certain if they were already 'in the know.' He spoke to them on occasion over the past month, but it was never anything more substantial than the playful banter of not-particularly-close friends. The true nature of their relationship with Alexander was a guarded secret, so they were careful to maintain a certain distance from him.

The distance was just fine with Alexander. He honestly didn't know how to react to the Potters anymore. He cared for them—well, he cared for the children and was politely acquainted with Lily and James—and didn't like the idea of cutting them out of his life entirely, but his affection for them didn't extend to the point of him being willing to put his real family in danger by associating with them in any more substantial way than a passing friendship.

Interactions with Charles were another challenge entirely. The redheaded boy appeared to be genuinely angry with Alexander for agreeing to end his weekend visits with the Potter family. It seemed that he believed this was a total repudiation of their relationship as brothers by blood. Despite Charles's anger, Alexander refused to let it create too big of a physical distance between them; he insisted on keeping a close eye on the boy whenever he could in order to ensure that the green-eyed fourteen-year-old didn't do anything dangerous.

Alexander knew that Lily and James Potter were told of the situation, but they no longer came to campus. Not since they decided to no longer require Alexander to spend the weekends with them. Therefore, talking to them about the situation wasn't an option even if Alex wanted to.

The last person that Alexander had to be careful around was Matthieu Moreau himself. He seemed to quietly accept that Alexander had no memory of their lunch together nor of the command he'd issued to the New Englander to bring him the plans for the awards ceremony. As far as Moreau seemed to be concerned, the Amortentia had been flushed out of Alex's system when the Healers treated him for an allergic reaction to a headache relief potion. Once the love potion was gone, Alexander would have lost all of his memories of the time he was supposedly in the Beauxbatons Champion's thrall as well as a few minutes on the either end of the experience. Having gotten what he really wanted from Alex—the plans—the French boy gave Alexander the space he'd asked for prior to their lunch date. Evidently, the primary interest he had had in Alexander was the plans.

Although he had no idea what the Department of Magical Affairs had done in preparation for the Third Task because it was decided that he had no business knowing, the green-eyed boy decided to trust Secretary Eda's judgment as far as the VIPs were concerned; he would leave their protection and Matthieu Moreau for the Aurors. His concern was with Charles Potter.

Everyone that was aware of the situation suspected that Charles Potter was under the influence of an enchantment of some kind, most likely a run-of-the-mill compulsion charm or the Imperius Curse. What infuriated Alexander most about Secretary Eda's decisions thus far was that she had decided to leave Charles under the influence of the curse so as not to tip Matthieu Moreau or any of his confederates off to the fact that his desire for the plans had been discovered. Logically, it made sense. But Alexander couldn't think logically where his younger biological brother was concerned. He wanted the boy to be protected, and if he couldn't trust the Department of Magical Affairs to do it, he decided that he'd have to do it himself.

Alexander soon reached the Student Government Office on the top floor of the central administrative building. Once inside, he closed the door and pulled the curtains shut. As soon as he was certain that he was totally alone and safe from prying eyes, he lowered his trunk to the floor. With a flick of his wand, he released the locks.

The top of the trunk flung open, allowing Edward to stand upright.

"Are you okay?" Alexander asked.

The vampire gave his boyfriend a smile. "Of course. The dead are quite at home inside small boxes."

The mortal boy sent his amber-eyed companion a playful glare. "Coffin jokes? Really?"

Edward shrugged. "A few people were thinking about how weird it was that you were carrying a trunk across campus, but no one seemed to be interested enough to ask about it. The interest was passing only."

"Good," Alexander said in relief. "Cedric said that the main Auror to worry about is someone named Moody. He has a magic eye that can see through solid objects, including the cloak we brought for you. He hates everything that can be considered a 'dark creature,' including vampires. But he's also very loyal to Dumbledore, so there's a fair chance that he already knows I have a vampire family and won't mess with us. Either way, Cedric said he'd keep an eye on him and intervene if it looked like he was going to do something stupid."

The immortal reached down into the trunk that he was still standing in and pulled out a black cloak. "You know, this thing will make me look rather like a member of the Volturi guard."

"Are you trying to give me nightmares?" Alex quipped.

"I'm only trying to add a bit of levity to the situation. Can you imagine the pair of us living with the Volturi once we are vampires? Carlisle constantly confounded them with his refusal to drink human blood. You would probably drive Aro into total insanity with your gentle ways."

The mortal shook his head. "Not helping." Despite himself, he smiled.

"Trust me; everything will work out just fine."

"How do you know that?" Alexander challenged.

"I just do," Edward confirmed with a confident smirk. He leaned down to plant a quick kiss on the top of his mortal's head. "Go on ahead. I will meet you down by the stands."

"Edward," the mortal began to protest.

"It will give me the opportunity to listen to some minds. See if I can't ferret out any important information."

Alexander wasn't worried about Edward. Although vampires were generally frowned upon by Wizards and Witches and were treated as pariahs, it was perfectly permissible for them to wander around magical gatherings such as the Third Task. They were like goblins in that regard. The point of sneaking Edward onto campus and then hiding his true nature with a heavy, dark cloak was so that he could be used as a secret weapon if things got out of hand. If Edward had to become involved in something messy, Alexander didn't want anyone to see him coming.

The Student Body President marched his way back across campus to the far side of the library. The space just beyond the library was the exact center of the island. At that central point, a large opening had been created with a set of dark stone stairs leading down beneath the campus into the remains of the original New England Academy of Magic.

The old school had been mostly subterranean, with the towers erected at the Northern, Eastern, and Southern tips of the island serving as the dormitories and entrances to the teaching and administrative areas of the underground school. The rooms that were spread out beneath the island had been used as classrooms, offices, and everything else the school had needed from the time that the school was first established until the new campus had been built aboveground after the Untrained Crisis.

Affectionately referred to as the Ruins or the Labyrinth by the students, the original campus was now a dark and creepy set of stone catacombs that barely resembled the magnificent school that they had once been a part of. The old school's atmosphere made it so unnerving to explore that it had long been a hazing ritual for the older students to dare the younger students to enter it and steal one of the countless school supplies that had been abandoned down there when the new campus was built.

Alex had retrieved a pointer during his hazing.

The Labyrinth was the perfect place for the Third Task, which, as always, was a maze. Specialists had spent weeks shoring up the structural stability of the old school, changing walls, and adding all manner of enchantments and magical creatures to the area so that it would make an excellent challenge. Unlike most mazes, where the participants start at some point on the outer edge and then tried to reach the center, this maze started in the center and it was the Champions' duty to try and reach the exit of maze. The finish line of the Third Task was the very top of the Eastern Watchtower, where the Triwizard Cup was waiting. This meant that Champions had to navigate the dark maze to find the underground entrance to the Eastern Watchtower and then face the challenges within the tower itself to reach the cup. It also meant that there were two towers—the Northern and Southern Watchtowers—that the Champions could reach by accident.

A pair of stands had been set up to the east of the entrance to the Ruins; one set of stands sat a little northeast of the entrance and the other sat to the Southeast of the entrance. Wood and metal structures that stood over a dozen stories high to accommodate literally hundred, if not thousands, of spectators, the stands were facing one another with a table for the three judges to sit at and a three-tiered platform for the Champions to stand on during the awards ceremony in between them. This allowed the spectators to use their omnioculars to watch all of the action of the Task—from the moment the Champions entered the Ruins until the winner reached the top of the Watchtower—and the ceremony without having to move from their seats. The only time that anyone might have to move from his or her seat to see the action was if a Champion followed the wrong path towards whichever of the dead-end Watchtowers was positioned at his or her back.

Alexander took a deep breath to steady his nerves before heading towards the entrance of the Ruins where he could see Eric; the Champion's mother, Abigail; and Marcia standing around waiting for the start of the Third Task.

As he made his way over, he caught sight of Cirilla Bellcroft, the girl who was once Alex's rival but who had become a fairly decent friend in recent months, standing near one of the trees by the library. Alexander did a double-take when he noticed the platinum blond Wizard whom she was speaking to. Tall, with identically pale hair and aristocratic features, the Wizard was dressed in rich, black robes that spoke of old money. He was standing too far away for the Cullen boy to be able to really make out his features, but he could easily pass for Cirilla's father if Alexander didn't know for a fact that the Witch had changed her hair to its current color shortly before Valentine's Day as part of a way to distance herself from her parents.

He wondered, momentarily, if the man she was speaking to was the idol Cirilla had mentioned at the Valentine's Day dance.

Once he reached Eric and his well-wishers, Alexander gave no further thought to the Witch. He focused all of his attention on the New England Champion.

"I was beginning to think you were home sick," Eric joked nervously.

Alex gave his friend the most natural smile he could muster. "I used that excuse last time, remember? It just wouldn't do to use it twice in a row." He allowed a moment for the bleach blond to laugh nervously before continuing. "How you feeling, champ?"

Eric Weathercrest shot an apologetic look to his mother before pulling Alex and Marcia aside so that they could talk in private. "I'm thinking about pulling out right after it starts."

"What?" Alexander demanded. Marcia, he noticed, wasn't surprised by Eric's statement.

"If something is going down, there's no way I'm gonna leave my girl and my best friend out here to face it without me."

"We can take care of ourselves," Eric's girlfriend answered.

"Besides," Alex said before turning around to look at the stands, "we have backup." Edward, who didn't have a centimeter of skin showing for the black robe he was wearing, was seated in the front row with places saved for Alexander and Marcia.

Eric didn't look convinced.

"Win this, Eric," the younger Wizard practically ordered. "If Moreau wins, the extra bit of celebrity will make it that much harder for him to be prosecuted. We'll be fine out here; you just focus on the Task. If you get distracted and get yourself killed down there, Marcia will learn Necromancy, resurrect your sorry ass, and then kill you herself."

"Champions!" Headmaster Justinius's magically amplified voice called over the dull roar created by the hundreds of conversations being simultaneously had in the stands. "Assemble at the entrance!"

Alexander reached forward and patted Eric on the shoulder once and wished him good luck. This was followed by Marcia kissing the blond Quodpot player passionately. The kiss lasted for far longer than propriety would normally permit in such a public setting, but neither cared.

Their third friend was just happy that Eric and Marcia's hands didn't stray anywhere inappropriate. That happiness faded when the Witch copped a feel, much to the crowd's pleasure.

After the kiss ended, Abigail smiled warmly at her son before heading off to her seat in the stands. Alex and Marcia likewise departed to join Edward. The vampire was quietly introduced to Marcia by the Wizard, but he didn't shake her hand or do anything that might reveal his true nature to anyone who didn't already know.

Each of the mortals took the pairs of omnioculars that Edward handed them. As Alexander fingered the little device, he silently thanked goodness that the omnioculars were only enchanted to see through the ground into the maze, not through clothing.

Eric went to stand in a line with Katie Bell and Matthieu Moreau near the entrance of the Ruins; he scowled viciously at the French boy and looked like he was strongly considering dueling him out in front of everyone. Headmasters Dumbledore and Madam Maxime soon appeared to stand behind their respective Champions while Headmaster Justinius stood in front of the teens.

"Below us, is a spectacular maze!" Justinius announced, turning in a circle so that he could address the spectators on all sides of him. "The walls will shift and move! Creatures stalk its hallways! And there are enchantments designed to return our Champions to the very beginning of the maze should they make a misstep! There are only three ways to leave the maze! One Champion will win the Tournament by reaching the end of the maze and the Triwizard Cup at the top of the Eastern Watchtower! Those who wish to forfeit, may do so by casting _Sonorus_ and announcing their request to be removed from the maze! And those who neither forfeit nor win shall be retrieved from the maze once one Champion has captured the Triwizard Cup!

"Eric Weathercrest, the New England Champion, shall enter the maze first as he is in the lead in terms of points! Five minutes later, Katie Bell, the Hogwarts Champion, shall enter! Matthieu Moreau of the Beauxbatons Academy shall enter five minutes after that!"

The crowd was mostly silent as the headmaster spoke. Alexander used this opportunity to get a good look at the stands. The VIP box was a cordoned off area at the very top of the set of stands he was sitting in. With his omnioculars, he could make out Minister Fudge, Secretary Eda, and the French Minister—a grandfatherly-looking fellow with blue robes that matched the uniforms of the Beauxbatons students—sitting two rows from the back of the box, surrounded by advisors. Alexander was surprised to see the blond man that Cirilla had been speaking to seated behind Fudge in the VIP box.

Cedric Diggory was standing at the edge of the VIP box, keeping unauthorized individuals out of the area.

After looking around for a bit, he also found the Potter family. He cursed silently when he found that they were seated across from Alexander in the front row of the opposite set of stands; he wanted to be closer to Charles to keep an eye on him. Then again, sitting on the side with VIP box would put him in a better position to stand between any evildoers and the younger Wizard should something happen.

Charles was excitedly watching things from his spot next to his sister, but Cara, Jonathan, Lily, and James all seemed to be on edge about something.

Alex quickly realized that they _all_ must have known that something was expected to happen.

The headmaster of the New England Academy of Magic ended his Voice Amplification Charm and signaled the three Champions to move in close to him. Eric was looking slightly less nervous and Katie Bell appeared to be fairly confident about the whole thing, but Matthieu Moreua looked like he wasn't shaken in the least. The Beauxbatons Champion looked _eerily_ calm.

After Justinius spoke to the Champions for a few moments, likely to give them a few last minute warnings about the Task, he motioned for them to take their places at the top of the stone stairs that went down into the Ruins. He waited for several seconds after they were ready before pointing his wand up into the air and creating a loud 'bang' to signal Eric to begin.

Alexander watched through his omnioculars as his best friend went down into the Ruins, but he was only half-paying attention. Once the crowd began to cheer and make a ruckus, he whispered quietly to Edward, "Any sign of problems?"

"No," Edward muttered. "All of the seats near the Potters were taken before we arrived, so this is the best I could do without revealing myself. I did walk near them to make sure there were no malicious thoughts around them; there weren't any beyond what was to be expected given the slander they have suffered in recent years. There are a few strange things, however."

"Like what?"

"You told me that Occlumency was a rare talent, but earlier, when I passed several of the people who are now sitting in the top box, I couldn't hear their thoughts."

Alexander shot a look towards the top box. "Anything else?"

"Not yet."

The next couple of minutes were very uneventful. Eric progressed through the maze at a slow pace at first. But, as soon as Katie Bell entered, he was able to pick up the pace because the creatures that had been stalking him were now splitting their attention between two potential victims rather than one.

The Cullen boy shot looks up at the top box every few seconds it seemed, but nothing happened. Finally, he made a suggestion. "Let's go for a walk."

Edward didn't ask his boyfriend why he wanted to go for a walk; he just followed his lead out of the stands and around to the side where the stairs to reach the higher sections were located. Marcia remained in her seat, her eyes glued to the omnioculars as she watched Eric narrowly avoid an attack from a large minotaur-like creature.

Alexander and his boyfriend weren't the only ones who had left the stands; several individuals had left the stands to smoke or to speak in a quieter atmosphere either beneath the stands on one of the landings of the steps that led up to the higher levels.

The pair began to climb the stairs up towards the VIP box so that Edward could hear the thoughts of people on the different levels of the stands. The general idea was to go up and down the stairs on each side of the stands to give the mindreader the opportunity to read as many thoughts as possible.

The vampire stiffened noticeably when they reached the tenth level.

"What?" Alexander asked.

"I hear a pair of inner voices a ways above us. In the top box, I believe."

"You should hear dozens of voices."

"I do. But these are inner voices that are talking to one another. It's like a conversation," the vampire explained. "Or an argument."

Alexander looked directly up. Before the mortal could properly analyze what Edward was telling him, a scream broke out from the stands. The first shrill scream was soon followed by dozens of other people screaming in panic and fear.

"What's going on?" Alexander asked Edward, a bit of panic in his own voice.

Edward listened to the thoughts of the people above them. "Secretary Eda is dueling someone," he said disbelievingly. "Others have joined in, including the Aurors."

Alexander was about to run the rest of the way up the stairs when a green flash illuminated the sky above his head. With horror, the sixteen-year-old looked up and out to see the limp body of Secretary Eda fly over the back of the stands.

The screaming had intensified and total, unbridled chaos erupted in the stands. Most of the audience was trying to trample one another as they made their escapes, but the Aurors and the British and French Ministers remained in the top box to duel their own advisors.

Edward took hold of Alexander and began to race down the stairs. His inhuman speed and dexterity allowed him to move through the crowd to settle his boyfriend safely on the ground within a matter of moments. The experience left the mortal somewhat nauseas.

A new set of screams erupted from the other set of stands. Alexander turned his head and found Lily Potter writhing on the ground in front of the bleachers as she was hexed by her youngest son; it appeared that he was using the Cruciatus Curse to torture her. Jonathan, James, and Cara all tried to help the woman, but their efforts were hampered by the mass of people that began to push and crowd their way around them in a haphazard and frenzied attempt to evacuate. After several failed attempts to disarm Charles—attempts that failed because of panicky audience members slamming into the wand arms of the Potters as they tried to take careful aim—Cara leapt from the stands and tackled her brother to the ground. They wrestled with one another until the Witch was able to knock Charles's wand away.

Alexander was brought back to the reality of his situation on his side of the field when Edward pulled him to the side to avoid the flying body of an Auror that had been knocked from a relatively low level of the stands. "Go help where he can," he ordered his boyfriend as he knelt down and began to repair the damage done to the barely-breathing Auror.

Edward hesitated, his eyes fixed on the bloodstained robes of the Auror.

"Go now!" Alex ordered a second time.

The immortal was brought from his blood-induced daze and, without a word, leapt onto one of the support beams of the bleachers and began to climb his way up towards the top box like a monkey. As he moved, Alexander noticed that dozens of duels had broken out all over the stadium; it appeared as if random audience members had torn off their cloaks to reveal pitch black robes or varying styles and then began hexing people at random.

The Auror that the boy was tending to had several broken bones and was bleeding heavily. Alexander was talented with healing spells and was able to mend the broken bones in a heartbeat; it was easy because the breaks were, surprisingly, rather clean. Forcing the blood to return to the man's body was a much trickier task and required more time and energy. His attempts were interrupted several times as the stampeding audience members slammed into him, but he recovered quickly enough.

The more distracting thing, however, was what was happening across the field with the Potter family. Although he could only occasionally see across the field for all of the panicking Wizards and Witches racing about, he could tell that Charles was now missing and that the other four members of the family were all engaged in duels with dark-robed Wizards and Witches. Alexander wanted to go and help them, but he couldn't just leave the injured Auror to bleed out or be trampled to death.

He continued his work for several minutes. "_Ennervate_!" he cast once the man's injuries were healed sufficiently.

The Auror was a tall, athletic black man and his dark eyes snapped open the moment Alexander cast the final spell. It clearly took him a moment to understand where he was and what was happening, but once he did, he stood up and dusted himself off.

"What happened up there?" the teenager demanded as the man finished recovering. "Who killed Secretary Eda?"

The Auror looked at Alexander for a moment before speeding off to rejoin the battle in the stands.

The Cullen boy didn't have time to waste on being mad at the lack of an answer to his question because he found himself being forced to the ground by Cirilla Bellcroft. From his place in the grass, he could see a jet of blue light pass over the girl's head, right where his back had been a mere moment before.

"Don't just stand around like and idiot!" the blonde girl shouted. "Get out of here!"

Alexander rolled the Witch off. "Thanks, but I have someone I need to go help," he said before he began to run across the field towards where the Potters were engaged in the large duel. As he ran, he noticed that Remus Lupin and Sirius Black had joined the fight, each with their own opponents that had arrived, seemingly out of nowhere.

Lily, still having not recovered from being tortured by her fourteen-year-old son, was losing her duel with a tall Witch with a skull-like head; wild, dark hair; and heavy-lidded eyes. She was cackling as she cast spell after spell at the redheaded Witch.

"Get away from her!" Alexander shouted as he threw a Stunning Spell at his biological mother's opponent.

The dark-haired Witch turned when she heard Alexander shout out. She batted the crimson spell away as though it was a gnat and then laughed madly at the boy. "If it isn't the last ickle, little Potter!"

The black-haired Wizard was extremely surprised that this Witch knew of his relationship with the Potter family. He didn't have long to ponder how she knew of it because she sent a curse of her own at Alexander. Though he didn't know what it did without hearing the incantation, he was relieved to have dodged it when he saw how it scorched a large section of grass as it impacted with the ground.

"_Crucio_!" Lily Potter screamed when she saw the other Witch attempt to curse Alexander. Her opponent was shocked at the use of Dark Magic, but managed to successfully dodge the spell just as Alexander had dodged her spell a moment before.

For the next several minutes, the dark-haired Witch danced between Alexander and Lily, avoiding their spells with the grace of a dancer. She rarely bothered to counter them; it was as if she was purposefully extending the duel. Perhaps, Alexander realized, she was genuinely enjoying the fight. She was reveling in the insanity of it all.

Alexander knew that he wasn't skilled enough at offensive magic to turn the tide of the battle, so he decided to try and repeat what he'd used against Ronald Weasley the previous semester: he conjured a shield to protect him from the Witch's occasional spells and then began to rapidly fire Stunning and Disarming Charms at his enemy.

His creation of the shield, however, seemed to be interpreted by the enemy Witch as a challenge. She turned her back to Lily Potter and began to fire more and more spells off in an escalating succession. With the heavy shield attached to his left arm, Alexander couldn't properly dodge the assault, only hide from it. The spells soon caused his shield to buckle and crack. The green-eyed boy did his best to send a few of his own spells at the Witch and to magically shore up his shield, but it just wasn't enough. With one last spell, the Witch managed to shatter Alexander's shield and send him slamming into the ground, his left arm breaking with a sickening 'crunch' as he landed.

It took a few moments for Alex's mind to clear enough for him to realize that the Witch had broken off her assault on him; she was now focusing solely on Lily Potter. With another mad cackle, she managed to rip the redhead's wand out of her hand and send it spiraling away.

"Lily!" James cried out as he tried to escape from his own duel to come to his wife's aid. He wasn't able to take more than a step in the redhead's direction before he had to begin dodging Killing Curses from his mustachioed opponent.

The Witch with the heavy-lidded eyes began to stalk towards Lily Potter in the same way the vampire that had terrorized Alexander back in January had stalked towards him. The Cullen boy knew that the woman was a predator moving in for the kill. The next spell that left Alexander's lips came without any hesitation or conscious thought once he realized what the Witch intended.

"_Avada_ _Kedavra_," he said quietly with his hemlock-printed wand pointing at his biological mother's would-be murderer.

The jet of green light soared from the tip of the wand and through the air. His incantation had been so quiet that the Witch hadn't heard it. And she was so supremely confident that she'd ended the boy's threat when she'd cast him aside that she couldn't even conceive of a sneak attack to her back. In fact, her only warning of what was going on was Sirius Black's opponent shouting, "Bella!"

The Witch, Bella, started to turn her head in response to the shout at the same time that Alexander's deadly curse hit hear square in the back. She never saw her death coming.

The dark-haired Witch crumpled to the ground like a puppet whose stings had just been cut.

Alexander didn't have any time to really absorb the fact that he'd just killed someone before he had to roll on the ground to avoid a barrage of spells from the man that tried to warn the Witch of his attack. Fortunately for the boy, he didn't have to roll for very long. The man's rage made him careless and he was quickly brought down by Sirius Black who was grinning from ear to ear.

Lily rushed to Alexander's side. "Are you alright?"

"My arm," Alex muttered. "I just need to fix it." With a wave of his wand and a loud 'pop,' Alexander's left arm straightened out and mended itself. "It's not perfect, but it will do until I can see a Healer." He then looked over to see how the other duels were progressing.

James appeared to be evenly matched with his opponent. The black-clad Wizard was sending deadly curses at Alexander's biological father with hard jabs of his wand, but James wasn't having too much difficulty intercepting the spells with rocks and other solid objects that shattered when they collided with the curses.

Remus Lupin had the upper hand on his enemy. His technique was flawless as he countered curse after curse. Some of the spells that were shot by the short, squat Witch he was dueling with seemed to evaporate into nothing as he performed the complex countercurses with ease. The Witch was becoming increasingly erratic with her spellwork and it was painfully obvious that she wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.

Cara was having a fairly difficult time with her enemy when Alexander's eyes settled on her. The Witch was pretty quick with her Shield Charms, but wasn't fast enough to counter with her own attacks; she was being forced to stay on the defensive. Fortunately for her, Sirius was now free to assist. Once they started double-teaming the dark Wizard, he was vanquished in no time at all.

Jonathan appeared to be doing the best of any of the Potters on his own. He balanced his spells well with a combination of defensive and offensive magic. The massive blond Wizard he was dueling with favored concussive spells, but he wasn't able to piece the Boy-Who-Lived's Shielding Charms. The explosive magic rebounded towards Jonathan's opponent. When the black-clad Wizard was forced to dodge his own spell for the third or forth time, he was left totally unprepared for defending against the Disarming Charm that left him bereft of a wand. Defenseless, he was brought down a moment later by a Stunning Spell.

Alexander was about to move to help James Potter finish his duel when a sudden, deafening boom crashed through the air above the battlefield. The boy began to look around wildly in an attempt to find the source of the sound, fearing what else could possibly happen.

He didn't see where the spell had come from, but several bolts of light struck the major support beams of the stands. With a terrible screech of twisting metal, the stands began to sway precariously and then collapse. Everyone who was standing near them, regardless of what side of the conflict they were on, began to run to escape the destruction.

As the Cullen boy turned, he was able to see Edward in the distance. He was still jumping about the far set of bleachers like a monkey, expertly plucking the few stray bystanders that hadn't managed to evacuate the stands out of harm's way. Once he had as many young Wizards and Witches as he could carry—some screaming students were being held in his arms while others had their arms looped around his neck, back, and waist—he leapt to the ground, deposited his load, and then began to sprint towards Alexander.

Alex, however, couldn't run directly to his boyfriend as he wanted; there was a group of about five young students that was huddled within the danger zone of the collapsing stands. The black-haired teen changed course and ran towards the assembled group of students, putting himself between the twelve- and thirteen-year-olds and the wreckage that was heading straight for them.

Edward arrived a mere heartbeat after Alexander did and made to protect the group of mortals with his body. The Wizard, however, had other ideas. He channeled as much power into his wand as possible, thrust it out in front of himself, and unleashed a Transfiguration spell. The magic began to work on the falling beams of metal and wood, transforming the nearest pieces into sand that fell harmlessly to the earth. He missed a few pieces here and there, but Edward was able to bat them away with his diamond-hard hands and incredible strength.

Alexander's vision was clouded by dust and sand for several long moments after the twelve-story bleachers finished collapsing. He was uncertain of the damage caused by the collapse, but he was certain that it had been devastating. There had been dozens of people still trapped in the stands when they fell and, though some of them were probably capable of using magic to survive the collapse, not all of them were. Alex's fear of casualties was seemingly confirmed by the loud wails that began to replace the fearful screams.

The young Wizard cut through the air with his wand, forcibly clearing his vision. There was a near-perfect circle of cleared space around Alexander, but they were surrounded on all sides by large piles of shattered metalwork and fragments of the wooden seats. To his pleasant surprise, the group of five students weren't harmed in the least. Physically, at least. The way they were all huddled together, he was fairly certain they were scared out of their wits.

"CARA!" Jonathan's voice screamed out in despair, his voice rising above the other sounds.

Practically forgetting about the young Wizards and Witches that were standing with him, the green-eyed boy tried to climb over the rubble in the direction of the voice. Edward lifted him up into his arms and began to leap over the destroyed bleachers. The air was still dusty and hard to see through, but Alexander could just make out his older biological brother cradling his twin sister's limp form as Edward and he overcame the first major pile of rubble.

As they neared the girl, he saw that a long metal rod had impaled her though the lower part of her stomach, pinning her to the ground. When Edward deposited Alexander next to his twin sister, the Wizard immediately began to mutter spells as quickly as possible.

She was alive, but just barely.

"I can't . . ." Alexander said in desperation as he tried to stabilize the girl. "I can't save her. The damage is too severe." He looked up at Jonathan and then to Edward, his eyes beginning to water. "We have to get her to a Healer."

"I'll take her," Edward said wrapped his arms around the Witch. "Alex, I need you to cut the metal on either side of the wound very carefully."

The younger mortal experienced a moment of hesitation as he noticed how dark Edward's eyes had become. He was showing amazing restraint amidst all of the blood, but the physical signs of him being pushed to his limit were becoming apparent. After that second passed, however, he focused his efforts on his twin. With a delicate slash of his wand he severed the metal rod a few inches above Cara's wound. With a second slash, he did the same beneath her back.

Edward was gone a moment later.

Jonathan, who had been silently watching the vampire and his biological brother work, stood up. He did his best to speak in a steady tone. "Charles is still missing, and I haven't seen Mum or Dad or anyone else since we started to run," the older boy stated as he frantically began to spell the debris out of his way. "Charles ran off once he got Cara off of him. I didn't see which way he went. Mum and Dad were right next to me when everything came down . . ."

It only took Alexander a moment to deduce where Charles had gone. "The portkey site!" he exclaimed. "It's the only way on or off the island, unless the headmaster has taken down the wards! It's the only place he'd run!"

"We have to catch him before he leaves," Jonathan said in desperation. "He's been bewitched!" He turned and began to move over the rubble as he raced towards the portkey site.

"What about Lily and James?"

"They can take care of themselves," the hazel-eyed teen answered, his voice unnaturally hard. "I'm not going to lose another brother. This is what they'd want me to do."

The pair hoped that, once they escaped the area where the stadium wreckage had landed, they would be in the clear and would be able to run to the portkey site without any difficulty. Alas, when they emerged from the wreckage, they walked right into the middle of another battlefield. This time, however it wasn't adults who were fighting; this battle was being fought by students only.

This wasn't a spat like what happened before Thanksgiving. This was war. The problem was, Alexander couldn't tell who was on what side at first. If it had been a simple matter of one school battling another or of Gryffindors battling Slytherins, then it would have been relatively easy to figure out who was battling for what cause. It wasn't that simple, however.

Every side appeared to be a hodgepodge of students from all three schools. In one cluster, a group of Slytherin and Hufflepuff students were flooring a trio of Beauxbatons students. In another area of the battlefield, Neville Longbottom and Ronald Weasley were fighting back-to-back as they cursed a group of New England students back to the Stone Age. Hermione Granger did a spectacular bit of magic that turned a large swath of the ground into quicksand that a group of particularly vicious Ravenclaws were waist-deep into in a matter of moments.

It was less like one large battle and more like a hundred little battles happening all at once.

Marcia was dueling two male students from Beauxbatons. With a hard jab of her wand, she sent one of them down on the ground with such force that Alexander was pretty sure the Wizard broke his jaw on impact. Before she could turn her attention to the other, Eric appeared out and bashed the other Wizard over the head with the Triwizard Cup before sending a powerful Slashing Hex off towards a New England student that was trying to get the jump on Cormac McLaggen.

Alexander and Jonathan dodged and weaved their way through the pandemonium in an effort to track down Charles Potter. They each sent out hexes and curses every now and then to aid a friend or to protect one another, but they mostly just focused on running. As they neared the edge of the battlefield, their way was blocked by a spectacular duel in which Draco Malfoy and another Slytherin boy of about the same age were taking on the four Slytherins that had attacked him months earlier.

"Damnation," Jonathan cursed. "We don't have time for this." He cast a quick look at Alexander. "I'll punch a hole for you; just keep running and don't stop for anything."

"But-" Alexander tried to protest.

"Don't argue," the Gryffindor snapped. "You're faster. If Charlie hasn't left the island yet, then you have the best chance of reaching him."

The New England boy couldn't argue with the logic of it all, so he gave his silent assent and sprinted towards the four Slytherin students.

The lead of the four individuals who were blocking his path—the dark-skinned boy who'd led the attack against Draco Malfoy the previous November and who had sat with Cirilla during the First Task—noticed Alexander first. He diverted his attention from the wiry boy he was attempting to curse and pointed his wand at the Cullen Wizard. Before he had the chance to fire, a volley of spells rained down on him and his companions from Jonathan's wand.

The spells were cast in a tight grouping along the center of the line. There were too many spells to try and shield themselves from or counter properly, so the Slytherin boys had no choice but to dodge. Their scattering cleared a path for Alexander to run through as he made his way for the portkey site, leaving Jonathan to catch up after he'd finished helping Draco Malfoy and his ally beat the Slytherins quartet into submission.

The boy continued to race towards the gatehouse, his heart pounding in his chest. As he neared the structure, he began to worry more and more. There was no sign of Charles outside of the little structure.

He ripped open the door to look inside. To his dismay, he found Ms. Lepon lying on the floor of the room, her vacant blue eyes staring up at the ceiling. She'd been murdered with the Killing Curse.

"_Stupify_," a voice incanted from Alex's left.

The boy dodged the spell with only an inch to spare. The red beam of light shattered a window in the gatehouse, but did no other harm. Alexander looked over and found Charles standing in the corner of the little room as though he had been waiting for him.

"Char-" Alex began, but didn't get the chance to finish. He wasn't able to complete the redhead's name before he had to back out of the door to avoid being his by a second spell.

Charles Potter continued to throw spells at his older biological brother. Alex deflected them easily enough.

"You don't want do this," the older green-eyed boy said as he parried a minor hex that would have made him lose feeling in his arms. "You don't want to hurt me, Charles." After several more curses and hexes were fired his way, Alexander decided to disarm the other boy. After sidestepping a sixth curse, he shouted, "_Expelliarmus_!"

The other boy's wand flew from his fingertips for the second time in an hour. That didn't deter him, however. He charged at Alexander, tackling him and knocking him to the ground. The younger boy began to punch and kick at Alex for all he was worth.

Alexander was so shocked by the physical attack that he received a split lip before he really thought of fighting back. He took hold of both of Charles's wrists as the younger Wizard attempted to smack him; it prevented Charles from hitting him anymore. The ginger Wizard didn't give up, however. He began to wiggle and fight against the older teen's hold on him with everything he had. Finally, Alexander forcefully pushed Charles off of him.

The younger teen stumbled backwards for several feet before tripping over Ms. Lepon's prone form. He fell down, smacking his head on the edge of the deceased woman's worktable with an audible 'crack.'

"Charles!" Alexander cried as he rushed over to see if the younger boy was okay.

The younger of the green-eyed boys looked up at Alex with contempt as a trickle of blood ran down from a cut on the side of his head from where he'd hit the table. He struggled to stand to continue the fight.

"You don't want to do this," the New Englander pleaded. "Charles, please. You're bewitched, but you can fight it. Please, don't make me fight you anymore."

The redheaded Hufflepuff continued to stand up, totally unaffected by his biological brother's words. His actions were, however, very much affected by the hit he'd taken against the table. He was having a hard time standing up.

Alexander wiped some of the blood away from his split lip. It stained a strip of flesh on the back of his hand red. He then held his hand up for Charles to see. "Don't fight me anymore, Charles. There's no reason to. Look at this. It's blood. _Our_ blood. Don't you remember? The same blood runs through our veins; yours and mine."

Charles had risen to his feet, but didn't move towards Alexander. His face was very conflicted, as though he was having a silent argument with himself.

The older teen slowly closed the gap between them and gently ran his hand over Charles's forehead, allowing the younger boy's blood to mingle with his own. "You're my brother, Charles. We haven't known each other very long, but I know you well enough to know that you're stronger than this. Whatever spell you're under, you can beat it. I know you and I know what you're made of because I'm made of the same stuff. You're strong, Charles. Now prove it to whatever bastard cursed you. Fight the spell off," he encouraged.

The redhead began to blink several times in rapid succession. His face no longer looked conflicted. "Alex?" he asked in confusion after a few seconds had passed.

"Welcome back."

"_Expelliarmus_!" a female voice cried.

Alexander's wand was ripped from his hand. He turned, shielding Charles from view as best he could. "Cirilla?" he asked in surprise.

"You should have gotten out of here like I told you to, Alexander," the Witch said with a sad shake of her head. "Now, you'll have to come with us."

"Who is 'us'?" the black-haired boy demanded.

"Dear Cirilla and myself, of course," a new, aristocratic voice added itself to the mix. The tall blond man that Alexander had seen Cirilla talking with before the Third Task stepped into view a few feet behind the Witch.

"Malfoy!" Charles Potter spat from his place behind Alexander.

Alex spared a quick glance to Charles before returning his gaze to Cirilla. "So they were Death Eaters out there, then. You and Moreau teamed up with the Dark Lord."

Lucius Malfoy laughed haughtily. "So very simpleminded. Truly, there can be no doubt that you are a Potter. A child of that filthy Mudblood and her foolish Blood Traitor of a husband," he said, tilting his head to the side to look past Alexander towards the fourteen-year-old he was trying to protect. "I must admit, I was rather surprised to learn of your existence. As was the Dark Lord. I thought, for a time, that you would be something of value. An ally against the family that cast you away. I see now that you won't be. The blood always shines true, you see. And your dirty blood has sealed your fate. All you can truly be is an example."

"'Example'?" the blonde Witch at his side asked sharply.

"We only need one of them," Lucius Malfoy answered in a way that sounded like he was educating a small child. "We will leave one body and take the other back alive. The loss of one brother will make Jonathan Potter even more reckless than he already is. He'll do anything to get the other one back alive. Charles has proven to be the easier of the two to manipulate and control, so he'll be the one we take back with us. Alexander or Harry or whatever name he is calling himself at the moment . . . Well, he's just a spare."

"That wasn't what you told me. If Alexander got in the way, we were going to take him back. Give me time to convince him of the nobility of our cause!" Cirilla cried before she lowered her voice. "You promised."

"Silly, girl. I lied." The blond sneered as he raised his wand and pointed it at Alexander. "_Avada_ _Kedavra_!"

The spell started to make its way towards Alexander. He whirled around, grabbed hold of Charles, and tried to dive to the side, desperately hoping that he'd be able to avoid the spell. His efforts, however, proved to be unnecessary.

"No!" Cirilla shouted before throwing herself between Alexander and the spell. The deadly green magic hit her as she was diving through the air. The force of the Killing Curse sent her careening into Alexander, knocking both him and Charles into the wall in a jumbled heap.

The black-haired boy landed hard on his left arm. Though he'd reset it with magic after the female Death Eater with the heavy eyelids broke it earlier, the impact caused the appendage to hurt terribly one more.

"Cirilla," Alex whispered in panic as he righted himself and then shook his friend. "Cirilla!"

The blond Witch didn't stir.

"You . . . Son of a bitch!" Alexander cried as he tried to retrieve the Witch's wand. Malfoy summoned it away from his grasp as soon as his fingertips grazed it. "I'll kill you. I swear I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do!"

"No, boy. The last thing you'll do is _swear_ to kill me," the Death Eater said with an arrogant smirk before closing the gap between him and the two boys. "_Avada_ _Kedavra_!" he cried again.

This time, there was no escape for Alexander Cullen. If he moved to dodge the spell, it would surely hit Charles. And Cirilla's lifeless body was partially wedged under him such that he couldn't use it as a shield.

Lucius Malfoy, however, made a terrible miscalculation. He made the same mistake that his master had made years ago. He underestimated the power of the willing sacrifice of one's own life to save the life of another. He underestimated love and friendship.

The Killing Curse struck Alexander, and for a moment that seemed to stretch on an on for eternity, he knew nothing but fiery pain. He cried out and clutched as his chest where the spell impacted. But, soon enough the pain receded.

The boy opened his eyes to look at where he'd just been struck with the Killing Curse. His shirt was torn to pieces and there was a bleeding, jagged wound in the center of his chest, but he was still alive.

Lucius Malfoy, however, lay dead on the floor. He was the victim of his own curse.

"Alex?" Charles questioned from under the older boy.

The sixteen-year-old did his best to shift his weight so that Charles could get out from underneath him. Once the redhead was free, he looked back and forth with wide eyes between Alex, Cirilla, Ms. Lepon, and Lucius Malfoy. He began to sob uncontrollably after a few seconds and buried his head in the crook of Alexander's neck, mumbling mostly unintelligible apologies for causing so much disaster.

That was how Edward and Jonathan found them a few minutes later.

Next Chapter: A great many explanations.


	31. Chapter 31

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 31: Thirty: Afterlife**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Chapter Thirty – Afterlife**

Alexander was exhausted and fell asleep at some point as Edward was carrying him out of the gatehouse. When he awoke some time later, he was extremely disoriented and still very tired. He blinked several times, enjoying the warm sensation behind his eyelids when he let them slip closed. After a few moments, his mind cleared enough for him to realize that he was in the hospital ward of the New England Academy as the events of the day came rushing back to him. It took some time for him to realize where he was exactly because the area around his bed had been segregated from the rest of the room by a long, white curtain.

Sitting up, Alexander was assaulted by a searing pain in the center of his chest. With his hands, he felt a bandaged area through the white hospital gown that had replaced his tattered shirt; he was, thankfully, allowed to keep his pants. He wondered what the area where he'd been hit with Lucius Malfoy's Killing Curse looked like.

Edward was standing next to his bed. The vampire was standing so very still that Alexander didn't notice him there at first. When he did, he didn't jump as most people would; the Wizard was accustomed the stillness of immortals.

"How are you feeling?" the perpetual seventeen-year-old asked. His voice was careful and even.

The green-eyed boy smiled tiredly. "Déjà vu. You always seem to be asking me that question after I regain consciousness."

"You're humor is intact, at least," Edward said with a smirk.

"Why is it so quiet in here?"

The vampire's smirk fell from his face. "You are the only living person in the room at the moment," he answered before quickly changing the subject. "I will get Professor Brekenridge for you; there is much that needs to be explained."

Edward Hale left quickly, only to return a moment later with Cordelia Brekenridge in tow. When the curtain opened and closed to allow Edward out of and then he and his companion into the segregated area, Alexander did his best to peek out at the rest of the room. He could see someone's legs hidden under a white blanket on the bed next to him. He frowned, wondering why Edward had told him he was alone.

Professor Brekenridge looked terrible. Her hair wasn't pulled up as it usually was and her robes had a number of scorch marks on them. "Glad to see you up, Alexander," the woman said. Her voice sounded tired and scratchy.

"Professor," the boy greeted. His voice, he realized, sounded just as tired and scratchy as the woman he was addressing. "Did we win?"

"In a manner of speaking," the Charms mistress answered. "All of the Death Eaters that attacked were either killed or captured and the British Ministry, though still unwilling to admit that Lord Voldemort has returned, was forced to acknowledge that his servants have reorganized themselves, are a threat once more, and at least _believe_ that they are operating under the Dark Lord's orders. And, of course, the Death Eaters did not reach their objective. A number of spectators were killed, however."

"I saw Secretary Eda . . . They killed her."

"Secretary Eda did not, in fact, perish," the woman answered in her Boston accent. "The person who was killed in the VIP section was an Auror that was disguised as Eda through the use of Polyjuice Potion. Along with the British and French Ministers, she was replaced at the last possible moment as a security precaution. The Division of Magical Law Enforcement correctly feared that Minister Fudge's government had already been infiltrated, so it was decided that the three heads of state would be replaced with Aurors when they met privately with Headmaster Justinius prior to the start of the Task. The doubles, along with a number of plain-clothed Aurors positioned throughout the stands, were the primary security precaution taken by the Department of Magical Affairs."

Alex let out a sigh of relief before asking. "Where was Headmaster Justinius? I didn't see him or Madam Maxime or Dumbledore once the fighting started."

"Although they didn't know it, their seats were portkeys. Once the attack began, the three headmasters and the three heads of state that were hidden inside the administrative building were all transported to a secure location. None of the six of them were here for the fight once the cursing began, though the headmasters all did their best to return and get into the fight," the Witch explained. "The Department of Magical Affairs didn't expect anything on this scale. At most, they expected an assassin or two, not dozens of terrorists."

"What did happen?" the boy in the bed questioned as he looked back and forth between his professor and his boyfriend. "One minute there was a skirmish in the top box, and, the next thing I knew, it was like a war had broken out."

"A group of Death Eaters had infiltrated the top box—some of them were disguised as advisors to the three heads of state and others actually were advisors—and tried to place the heads of state under the Imperius Curse," Edward answered. "That was why I could hear a pair of inner voices arguing with one another. It was the Aurors fighting the off the spells."

Alexander's eyes diverted towards Cordelia Brekenridge for a moment; he was worried about Edward discussing his supernatural gift in front of the Witch.

"She already knows," the vampire assured Alex.

The Witched smiled conspiratorially for a moment before continuing the explanation. "Presumably, the Death Eaters were planning to put the leaders under their curses and then use them to infiltrate their governments for a more complete takeover. Once the Aurors started to fight back, however, the Death Eaters went to their contingency plan: assassination. In addition to those in the top box, a significant number of Death Eaters had infiltrated the event wearing normal-looking cloaks over their dark robes and somehow went unnoticed. We believe that this was because of assistance from officials in Fudge's government coupled with the somewhat lax security on our end caused by the Department not expecting anything quite like this. Only one British Auror noticed that something was amiss and his warnings went unheeded. Fudge called it 'the paranoid ramblings of a has-been.'

"The Death Eaters went after the Potter family and everyone in the VIP box. And some of the Death Eaters' supporters from all three schools—ours as well, I'm sad to say—joined in. It was a guillotine maneuver; they were trying to cut off the heads of all three governments and schools at once."

"But it failed," Alex said before leaning back to relax against the pillow on his bed.

"Mostly failed," Professor Brekenridge agreed. "Although the various government officials were unscathed, a great many people still died from curses and when the stands fell. The Potters, you may be interested to know, all survived."

Alexander was relieved to hear that Lily and James had been found alive and that Cara hadn't died as the result of her injuries. As he thought about the Potter family, the black-haired boy's hand idly rubbed the sore spot on his chest. "I survived the Killing Curse," he announced.

"We know. As do Carlisle and Esme; we contacted them earlier and they are anxiously awaiting our return home," Edward said. The expression on his face told Alexander that he was having a hard time coping with once again coming so close to losing the mortal. "Based on what Charles told us and the explanation Jonathan Potter gave you months ago, we believe that you survived for the same reason he survived Voldemort's curse."

"By giving her life to save mine, Cirilla unknowingly sealed a protective charm around me that prevented Malfoy from harming me," Alex completed the thought in a very detached and academic manner. After the words left his mouth, however, his eyes stung as he spoke. He was angry with the girl, but still . . . "She saved my life."

"Officially, she didn't," the Witch said softly.

"What?" the Wizard demanded, anger leaking into her passive voice. "She may have done awful things in all of this, but she still saved my life. She changed sides at the last minute. Judge her for both the good and the bad. Charles and I would both be dead if it wasn't for her. If you think for a minute that she's not going to get credit for saving me, you've got another thing coming."

"You are dead," Professor Brekenridge interrupted. "Officially, you're dead."

Alexander looked at his mentor, totally dumbfounded.

"It was Lily Potter's idea," Edward said softly as he kneeled down beside Alex's bed and took the Wizard's hands in his own. "The Dark Lord's servants knew who you were, which means that he almost undoubtedly knows. In order to keep you safe, it was announced that you died of the injuries Lucius Malfoy inflicted on you. No one questioned it because Charles was babbling about how you'd been hit with the Killing Curse and you were unconscious when I brought you in."

"But . . . but . . ." The green-eyed boy didn't know what to say.

"You can change your mind," the Bostonian informed the teen. "We can make whatever arrangements you want to recant the announcement of your passing, but we thought it best under the circumstances to go ahead and announce your death so that no one got any bright ideas and made a move against you while you were unconscious. You brought down two very powerful Death Eaters and their allies will want revenge. An opportunity presented itself and we took it. But, now that you are awake and can have a say in the matter, you can stay dead or you can miraculously come back to life; we'll just tell everyone that the earlier announcement was a mistake. It's up to you."

"It's a choice, Alexander. Right now, you are officially dead. The only people in the magical community who know you are alive are Professor Brekenridge, Headmaster Justinius, Eric Weathercrest, Marcia Johnston, and the Potters. Everyone else thinks you died. Even Dumbledore," Edward added.

"My classmates. And Cedric . . ." Alex trailed off.

"Mister Diggory is most upset. Nearly inconsolable," the professor said. "But, this is the only thing we could think of to keep you safe." She was totally unapologetic, not that she really had anything to apologize for. "The Dark Lord knows about you and will seek to destroy you, because you are Jonathan Potter's brother and because you permanently defeated two of his best lieutenants. Mrs. Potter thought that, by letting everyone think you had died in the fight with Lucius Malfoy, that the two of you killed one another, you would be safe. She is trying to give you options," the Witch continued. "Either we can announce that you are alive and you return to classes with the threat of Voldemort looming over you, or you disappear from the magical community until the conflict in Britain is over."

Alexander thought about the options for a long moment. He looked up at Edward. "How much time do I have to decide?"

"Not very," Professor Brekenridge answered for the vampire. "The longer you are here, the greater that chance is that someone will learn the truth."

The boy weighed his options quickly.

If he remained dead, then that meant he had to act like he was dead, so to speak. He couldn't return to school and his contact with Eric and Marcia would have to be extremely limited and carefully thought out. Contacting the Potters in any form would be far too risky to attempt. He could use absolutely no magic until he turned seventeen and the Trace dissipated. But the most important consideration was that he could continue to live with his family without putting them in danger of extermination by the Dark Lord.

If it was announced he was alive, however, he would be a target wherever he lived. He would be an albatross, an omen of disaster that would bring misfortune to his friends and family.

"I'm dead," Alexander eventually. He looked up at his professor. "What happens now?"

"You remember that Animagus we captured back in January?"

"Yes," the boy answered as Edward began to smirk.

"That was Rita Skeeter. She is an unregistered Animagus. This would be the appropriate time to use the blackmail information that I mentioned long ago. She'll report your death in the _Daily Prophet_, complete with a falsified eyewitness account," the Witch announced. "We won't let her know the truth; there will be no mention of your relationship with the Potters or anything like that. We'll just make her think we are giving you an over-the-top hero's sendoff."

"Can I . . . Can I say goodbye to my friends before I go?"

Professor Brekenridge lost her devious demeanor. "Of course. I'll quietly round them up. Should I retrieve the Potters as well?"

"Yes, please."

The Charms professor started to leave, but was stopped by Alexander's voice.

"If I don't get the chance to say this later . . . thank you. Thank you for always supporting me and helping me when I needed you."

The Witch stood perfectly still for a moment before looking back over her shoulder at the teen. "This isn't goodbye, Alexander. Not really. Once the war is over . . . Still . . . It's been a real pleasure."

After Professor Brekenridge left, Alexander turned to Edward. The vampire was watching him very carefully, as though he was afraid the boy would disappear. Alex didn't have it in him to reassure the mortal of his wellbeing at the moment, so he decided on a different direction. "The room is filled with dead bodies, isn't it? That's what you meant by me being the only living person in the room."

"Yes," Edward answered.

"Is Cirilla in here?"

The vampire nodded his head before helping Alexander out of bed. After giving the boy his glasses, he led the mortal out of his secluded area of the hospital ward. The eleven other beds in the room were all occupied by bodies covered in white sheets, the personal belongings of the deceased sitting down by their feet. Judging by the sizes of the bodies, they were all students. Where all of the adults were being kept, the green-eyed boy didn't know nor particularly care. Edward led Alexander to one of the beds along the far wall.

With a trembling hand, Alex pulled the sheet back to reveal the pale, cold face of Cirilla Bellcroft. He gently reached up to move a few stray strands of hair from her face. Shaking his head as he looked down at the girl, he couldn't but feel a strange mix of emotions about her. She'd saved his life, but would his life have even needed saving if not for her? As he thought about the Witch, his eyes caught sight a book amongst her personal effects. Alexander reached down and picked it up.

"A book?" the vampire questioned.

"Her journal," Alex corrected. "I saw her writing in it a while back. She said that she was writing campaign ideas." He began to leaf through the pages, reading a passage here and there.

After about ten minutes of reading, the door to the hospital ward began to open. Quickly, Alexander ripped the page he was looking at out of the book and pocketed it.

Eric and Marcia entered first, followed closely by all of the Potters. Everyone appeared to have come out of the battle relatively unscathed except for Cara and Charles; the former looking pale and being pushed in a wheelchair and the latter looking like he'd been traumatized by the events of recent weeks. Alexander felt a great amount of pity for the boy.

Alex smiled at his two best friends as they rushed to hug him. The Potters, however, remained by the door as if they didn't know whether it was okay for them to go to the boy or not.

"We're so glad you're alright," Marcia said amidst her tears.

Alexander hugged them back. "It takes more than a Killing Curse to kill a Cullen."

Eric snickered. "I don't think surviving the Killing Curse is that big a deal. _I _won the Tournament, after all," he joked.

The sixteen-year-old motioned towards where Jonathan was standing with the Potters by the door. "_He_ did both." He then looked back at his two friends. "I found the missing piece of the puzzle."

"What is it?" his twin asked weakly from across the room in confusion.

"It's Cirilla Bellcroft's diary. It explains a lot. Like how she was introduced to Lucius Malfoy by Reynolds when he was negotiating for the Triwizard Tournament, how she placed the Imperius Curse on both Charles and Matthieu Moreau, and how she learned about my . . . heritage . . . through interrogating Charles."

"We found out about Moreau a little while ago," Eric interjected somberly. "He was still in the Ruins when Cirilla died. He was pretty confused after the curse lifted. He's in one of the makeshift hospital wards they have around here. Seems like a pretty nice guy when he's not being mind-controlled. Pretty quiet and soft-spoken, actually. Guilt-ridden, but pretty nice."

"Good to know," Alex smiled before looking at Jonathan. "You should also know that you weren't the target of the poisoning attempt back in January, either."

"Really?" the older boy was amazed. He'd been laboring under the theory that Charles was poisoned during someone's attempt to murder him.

"Cirilla spent winter break with Lucius Malfoy and his wife. She was so desperate for parental approval that she took it wherever she could get it. They played her. Anyway, while she was there, she was given the poison to slip to Draco Malfoy. She talks about getting her 'brother back from the Potters.' She was supposed to poison Draco so that he'd have to go back to his father to get blood for the cure."

"But Charles drank from the wrong glass," Cara concluded.

Alexander nodded his head before leafing through the book and tearing out several more pages. Then, he crossed the room and gave the book to Jonathan. "I've taken all of the references to my birth name. Use this to make sure Charles and Moreau stay out of trouble. And to make sure Reynolds gets what he deserves for what his part in all of this. He may not have done anything illegal, but this whole thing should be enough to make sure that he doesn't become headmaster."

"An unusual twist of fate," James Potter muttered. "All of this, actually. If the Tournament hadn't been held here . . . If Charlie hadn't needed the blood transfusion . . . Who knows if we'd have ever found each other."

"And now we're saying goodbye again," Lily choked. "I know that we cancelled your weekend visits so that you would be safe and happy. It was an easy choice to make, even if it hurt. But I still held out hope that you'd keep up contact. And now . . ." the redheaded woman said as she took a deep breath to steady her nerves. "When the war is over, maybe . . ."

"Maybe . . ." Alex agreed. He reached forward and gave the woman momentary hug. It was short and weird, but felt like the right thing to do for the distraught woman.

James gave him a sturdy handshake before Jonathan hugged him in a very Emmett-like manner. Cara also hugged Alex, but hers was much softer and she gave him a kiss on the cheek at the same time.

Alexander went to Charles last. "I meant what I said before. We're brothers. Your blood is my blood, so we're always going to be a part of one another."

"I know," the redheaded boy said with a watery smile. "But I'm really going to miss you," he cried before throwing himself at Alex.

The older teen did his best to hold back his own tears as he hugged Charles in return. Of all the Potters, he felt that he had a special bond with Charles and the uncertainty of whether they'd ever speak to each other again carved at Alexander's heart like a knife. He was also very concerned for the wellbeing of the redheaded boy. Of all of them, he was the one that was going to need the most time to heal from the events of recent months

Once the smaller boy pulled back, he was reluctantly pulled out the door by Jonathan. The oldest of the Potter children looked over his shoulder at Edward before saying, "You take care of him."

"I will," the vampire answered resolutely.

None of the Potters wanted to prolong their goodbyes any longer than necessary. For the most part, they'd said goodbye a month ago. Dragging things out any longer would just cause unnecessary pain, so they quietly left the room.

After the Potters were gone, Alexander was let with just Eric and Marcia to say goodbye to. It seemed strange, but he felt at least, if not more, upset about saying goodbye to the pair. Then again, he'd known them far longer and better than he'd known the Potters.

"I don't know what to say," Alexander began after a moment in which he and his friends simply stared at one another.

"Just promise us that you'll take care of yourself," the blond said. He was beginning to get choked up. "Don't Apparate into the middle of the woods and almost get eaten."

"E-mail," Marcia said. "Get an account under a different name, and then e-mail me a lot."

"I promise," the black-haired boy answered. "I'm really going to miss you."

The three friends shared another hug before Eric and Marcia left the boy alone with his boyfriend. On his way out the door, the Quodpot player sent the vampire a look that held in it the same silent demand that Jonathan had voiced moments before: Take care of Alexander.

Once they were alone, Edward asked what he'd been wondering for the last several minutes. "What did you take from the diary before the others arrived?"

Alexander pulled the first page from his pocket and gave it to the immortal.

Edward read the page quickly. It was Cirilla's entry about the Valentine's Day dance, but he wasn't sure why Alexander had taken it until he reached a line approximately three-quarters of the way down the page.

'_I may have made my first real friend tonight. Someone who likes me because of me, not because of who my parents are._'

"Mister Cullen," a voice broke the silence. It was Headmaster Justinius. Alexander hadn't even heard the old man enter the room.

"Hello, sir."

"I have seen thousands of students through this school. And I remember each and every one of them. When I took this post, I feared that their faces would begin to blend together and I would forget the distinct details of my pupils," he smiled at Alexander. "That fear remains with me, growing as I get older and my memory begins to fail me. I have no such fears about you, Mister Cullen. You've left a mark on this school and on the people in it that will last a long time.

"I'm not one for goodbyes. So I shall simply give you this portkey that will activate in thirty seconds," he said as he set a ruler down on the floor, "and wish you good luck."

"Good luck to you too, sir. With whatever you're going to do next," Alexander answered before looking at Edward. The pair went to where the portkey had been placed on the floor and prepared to reach out for it. Silently, they counted the moments down until there was just a few seconds let. "On three."

"One," the vampire began.

"Two," the Wizard continued.

They finished and took the portkey together. "Three."


	32. Chapter 32

I, London Man, did **NOT** write this story. This was written by Early-Frosts. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.

I did **NOT **steal this story. Also, I want to thank Early-Frosts for letting my host their stories.

**Chapter 32: Epilogue: The Prom**

**Family Matters**

Disclaimer: _Harry_ _Potter_ by J.K. Rowling, the _Twilight Saga_ by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.

Warning: This story contains slash.

**Epilogue – The Prom**

As far as anyone in the magical community knew, Alexander Cullen was dead. According to the e-mails that Marcia had sent the supposedly deceased teen—carefully worded so that no one who happened to intercept them would be able to deduce whom the Witch was corresponding with—a very emotional service had been held for Alex in the Dining Hall of the New England Academy of Magic. She and Eric had cursed themselves so that they would appear to be his heartbroken best friends during the whole affair. Not that they weren't heartbroken over his leaving school; they just couldn't force the level of sadness that was expected of them.

The international press had made a very big deal about his death as well. It wasn't that they cared about him. No one knew that he was born Harry Potter except for a select few; their actions were meant to fool Lord Voldemort and his followers—who were aware of that fact—into believing he was dead. The press was interested in his death because it sent a chilling signal to the world about the Death Eaters' power and made the magical governments of the United Kingdom and the United States look utterly incompetent.

Of course, the truth would be a much better story. An unknown Potter child surviving the Killing Curse just as Jonathan Potter did. A second Boy-Who-Lived.

Over the next week, Alexander just rested and recovered from the physical and emotional wounds of the past school year. It took some time for him to really accept the fact that one chapter of his life had ended. That he couldn't contact the Potters even if he wanted to or hang out with Eric or Marcia anymore. That he'd killed someone, even if it was justified. It was all a bit much to process.

On Saturday night, just over a week after the Third Task, he was wearing another dark suit as he and Edward entered the Forks High School prom arm-in-arm.

"People are staring," Alexander muttered under his breath.

"Jealousy," the mindreader answered.

Alex laughed. "Liar."

"Some of them are jealous," Jasper interjected as he leaned forward to whisper in his mortal brother's ear. Alice giggled as her mate spoke.

"And the rest?"

"You're happier not knowing," Edward answered truthfully. "But that isn't what matters. I'm happy. You're happy. Let's just enjoy ourselves."

"I think I can do that," the Wizard answered as he allowed his boyfriend to pull him directly to the dance floor as soon as they entered the room. "But you need to realize that you can't protect me from their bad attitudes forever, you know." He could see the Mallory and Stanley girls glaring at him viciously.

"It's my job to-"

"You're my partner, not my bodyguard," Alex interrupted as the pair began to sway to the soft music; the vampire's protective routine was getting a bit old. "I don't need protecting from all of the bad things in the world."

"You only need protecting from yourself," the immortal joked.

The pair continued to dance through several songs. Alexander took the opportunity to look about the room and observe the different reactions of the students and faculty members in the room. Most everybody returned to doing other things rather than stare at the pair of boys embracing each other, but a few students were still watching. The pretty and nice brunette—Angela, Alexander believed her name to be—looked a bit pleased at the pairing while the large jock that had been the head of the group of teens in Port Angeles appeared to be very uncomfortable and was trying to look anywhere but at Edward and Alexander.

As he was turned about the dance floor by his date, Alex could also see his siblings dancing. Jasper never looked happier than when he had Alice in his arms and cold and stoic Rosalie was actually beaming as Emmett twirled her about.

Edward pulled his mortal boyfriend close as a slow song started. The green-eyed boy sighed in contentment as they danced. "I could actually learn to like to dance if we keep doing this."

The vampire chuckled as the statement.

Alex's eyes slipped closed for a minute. When he reopened them, he noticed that several students were staring at something, but it wasn't him and his date this time. He followed their collective gaze to the door where a girl in a wheelchair was being pushed into the room by Jacob Black.

"Bella Swan," Edward whispered to his date in answer to an unasked question.

"Do we need to leave?" the boy questioned. With the way her blood affected Edward, he was concerned that the temptation might be too great.

"No. I will be fine as long as I have your delicious scent to distract me."

"And now I feel like an appetizer," the black-haired boy joked.

"Don't say that too loud. Jacob Black has been shooting me glares since he caught sight of us. The last thing we need is for him to become any more worried for your safety than he already is."

"Jake's worried?" the boy asked before looking at his Quileute friend. The boy smiled warmly at him, but his dark eyes strayed to the vampire whose arms Alexander was in.

"Jacob doesn't like seeing us close. He's sizing up the other boys in the room, trying to find a more suitable match for you. He is even imagining you in the arms of a couple of the boys from the Reservation."

Alex frowned. "I should talk to him."

"No, you really shouldn't," the immortal answered. "He's only concerned for your wellbeing. Let him adjust to seeing us together and then talk to him about it later. Also, you don't wish to ruin Miss Swan's evening by fighting with the boy kind enough to take her to the dance; she's had such little joy in her life as of late. Let's just enjoy the moment."

"Alright," Alexander acquiesced. "But there is something I want to ask you about."

"Ask whatever you'd like."

"I love you," the mortal began. "And I've been giving a lot of thought to my future lately. About what I want. And about whom I want in my life. I've reached a decision." He paused for a moment before leaning in and whispering into Edward's ear. "Mom and Dad asked me last summer if I wanted to become a vampire. I told them 'yes,' but I didn't make a decision about when it would happen. I've thought about it, and I want to go ahead and become a vampire sometime during the summer," the black-haired boy whispered.

Edward pulled back and moved both of his hands up to frame Alexander's face for a moment. Then, very carefully, he pushed the mortal's ebony hair back away from his eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. But that was an announcement, not my question. I want to ask you about us. About if, once we have eternity in front of both of us, you'd be interested in spending it with me."

The way the immortal became perfectly still told Alexander that he'd managed to surprise him. After a few seconds—a very long span of time for a vampire and an even longer one for the mortal who'd just made his intentions known—"Are you asking me-"

"To be my mate," Alex finished brightly.

Once the mortal had clarified what he was asking, Edward's reaction was instantaneous. He dipped his head down and captured Alex's lips with his own, surprising not only the Wizard, but every one else at the prom.

"Is that a-" Alexander tried to ask once the kiss ended.

"Yes," Edward answered. "It's a yes."

The duo smiled lovingly at one another before continuing their dance. As they began to move about the floor once more, they could see Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett all grinning at the pair.

"You asked, so that means you have to be the one to tell Carlisle and Esme," the vampire jokingly whispered into his mate's ear.

Alexander grinned broadly. "Gladly."


End file.
